Report
Valens Research

Valens Equity Insights and Inflections - 2018 07 04

UNH currently trades above recent averages relative to UAFRS-based (Uniform) Earnings, with a 20.5x Uniform P/E. However, even at these levels, the market is pricing in expectations for Uniform ROA to decline from 40% in 2017 to 33% through 2022, accompanied by 7% Uniform Asset growth going forward. That said, analysts have less bearish expectations, projecting Uniform ROA to remain at current 40%-41% levels through 2019, accompanied by 20% Uniform Asset growth. Moreover, given management's confidence in their capital deployment, margins, and growth, market expectations appear too bearish. Should UNH succeed in simply maintaining profitability at current levels, equity upside would be warranted.

CL Q1 2018 Embedded Expectations Analysis – Market expectations are for Uniform ROA expansion, and management is confident about growth, Hill's, and e-commerce


EL Q3 2018 Embedded Expectations Analysis – Market expectations are for record-high Uniform ROA, and management is confident about growth, demand, and competition

LOW Q1 2018 Embedded Expectations Analysis – Market expectations are for continued Uniform ROA expansion, but management has concerns about their Pro customers, seasonality, and comps

7203:JPN, AER, AGN, APD, ASGN, ATVI, BNS:CAN, CARS, CRM, EA, FCX, ICE, MDR, OC, PX, SHW, YUMC, ZTS
Underlyings
Activision Blizzard Inc.

Activision Blizzard is a global developer and publisher of interactive entertainment content and services. The company's segments are: Activision Publishing, Inc., which is a global developer and publisher of interactive software products and entertainment content, particularly for the console platform; Blizzard Entertainment, Inc., which is a global developer and publisher of interactive software products and entertainment content, particularly for the personal computers platform; and King Digital Entertainment, which is a global developer and publisher of interactive entertainment content and services, particularly for the mobile platform, including for Google Inc.'s Android and Apple Inc.'s iOS.

AerCap Holdings NV

Aercap Holdings is an integrated global aviation company engaged in aircraft leasing. Co. acquires aviation assets at attractive prices, lease the assets to suitable lessees, and manage the funding and other lease related costs efficiently. Co. also provides aircraft management services. Co. operates its business on a global basis, providing aircraft to customers in every major geographical region. As of Dec 31 2017, Co. owned 980 aircraft and managed 113 aircraft.

Air Products and Chemicals Inc.

Air Products and Chemicals serves customers globally with a portfolio of products, services, and solutions that include atmospheric gases, process and other gases, equipment, and services. The company is a supplier of hydrogen and is engaged in helium and liquefied natural gas (LNG) process technology and equipment. The company also develops, engineers, builds, owns and operates industrial gas projects, including gasification projects that convert abundant natural resources into syngas for the production of power, fuels and chemicals. The company designs and manufactures equipment for air separation, hydrocarbon recovery and purification, LNG, and liquid helium and liquid hydrogen transport and storage.

Allergan plc

ASGN Inc

ASGN provides information technology (IT) and other services in the technology, digital, creative, engineering and life sciences fields across commercial and government sectors. The company's segments are: Apex, which provides technical, digital, creative, scientific and engineering personnel for contract, contract-to-hire, and permanent placement positions to clients across the United States and Canada; Oxford, which provides staffing and permanent placement services in select skill and geographic markets in the United States and Europe; and ECS, which delivers solutions in cloud, cybersecurity, artificial intelligence, machine learning, application and IT modernization, science and engineering.

Bank of Nova Scotia

Scotiabank is a financial services provider in North America, Latin America, the Caribbean and Central America, and parts of Asia. Through its three operating segments: Canadian Banking, International Banking, and Global Banking and Markets, Co. provides a range of advice, products and services, including personal and commercial banking, wealth management and private banking, corporate and investment banking, and capital markets. As of Oct 31 2017, Co. had total assets of C$915,273 million and total deposits of C$625,367 million.

Cars.com Inc.

Cars.com is a digital marketplace and solutions provider for the automotive industry that connects car shoppers with sellers and original equipment manufacturers. The company's portfolio of brands includes Cars.com, Dealer Inspire, DealerRater, Auto.com, NewCars.com and PickupTrucks.com. The CARS marketplace consists of a website that features a database of new and used vehicle listings, reviews, news and research section. Dealer Inspire is engaged in automotive technology that provides websites, technology solutions and advertising services to dealers across the United States and Canada. DealerRater is a source of user-generated reviews of both automobile dealers and dealership salespeople.

Colgate-Palmolive Company

Colgate-Palmolive manufactures and markets a variety of products in the United States and around the world. The company has two product segments: Oral, Personal and Home Care; and Pet Nutrition. Oral, Personal and Home Care products include toothpaste, toothbrushes and mouthwash, bar and liquid hand soaps, shower gels, shampoos, conditioners, deodorants and antiperspirants, skin care products, dishwashing detergents, fabric conditioners, household cleaners, and other similar items. Pet Nutrition products include specialty pet nutrition products manufactured and marketed by Hill's Pet Nutrition.

Electronic Arts Inc.

Electronic Arts develops, markets, publishes and distributes games, content and services that can be played and watched on a variety of platforms, including game consoles, personal computers, and mobile phones. The company markets and sells its games and services through digital distribution channels and through retail channels. Digitally, the company's console games and services can be purchased through third-party storefronts. In its games and services, the company utilizes brands that it either wholly own or license from others. The company develops and publishes games and services across genres. Within and alongside its games, the company provides live services, including in-game purchases, downloadable content, and esports.

Estee Lauder Companies Inc. Class A

Estee Lauder Companies is a manufacturer and marketer of skin care, makeup, fragrance and hair care products. The company's products are sold under a number of brand names including: Estee Lauder, Clinique, Origins, MzAzC, Bobbi Brown, La Mer, Jo Malone London, Aveda and Too Faced. The company is also the global licensee for fragrances, cosmetics and/or related products sold under various designer brand names. The company's products include skin care, makeup and related items such as compacts, brushes and other makeup tools, fragrance sold in various forms, hair care, and other ancillary products and services.

Freeport-McMoRan Inc.

Freeport-McMoRan is a holding company. Through its subsidiaries, the company is a mining company. The company operates assets with proven and probable reserves of copper, gold and molybdenum, and the company is a publicly traded copper producer. The company's portfolio of assets includes the Grasberg minerals district in Indonesia, copper and gold deposits; and mining operations in North America and South America, including the Morenci minerals district in Arizona and the Cerro Verde operation in Peru. The company has organized its mining operations into four primary divisions: North America copper mines, South America mining, Indonesia mining and Molybdenum mines.

Intercontinental Exchange Inc.

Intercontinental Exchange is a holding company. Through its subsidiaries, the company is a global operator of regulated exchanges, clearing houses and listings venues, and a provider of data services for commodity, financial, fixed income and equity markets. The company operates regulated marketplaces for listing, trading and clearing an array of derivatives contracts and securities across primary asset classes, including metals, equities, bonds and currencies, and also provides mortgage and technology services. In addition, the company provides data services to support the trading, investment, risk management and connectivity needs of customers. The company has two segments: Trading and Clearing and Data and Listings.

Lowe's Companies Inc.

Lowe's Companies is a home improvement retailer. The company provides home improvement products in lumber and building materials, appliances, seasonal and outdoor living, tools and hardware, fashion fixtures, rough plumbing and electrical, paint, millwork, lawn and garden, flooring, and kitchens categories. The company provides installation services through independent contractors in product categories, including appliances, flooring, kitchens, lumber and building materials, and millwork. The company also provides extended protection plans for various products within the appliances, kitchens, fashion fixtures, millwork, rough plumbing and electrical, seasonal and outdoor living, and tools and hardware categories.

McDermott International Inc.

McDermott International is a provider of engineering, procurement, construction and installation and technology solutions to the energy industry. The company designs and builds end-to-end infrastructure and technology solutions to transport and transform oil and gas into a variety of products. The company's proprietary technologies and solutions are utilized for offshore, subsea, power, liquefied natural gas and downstream energy projects around the world. The company's business is organized into five operating groups, which represent its reportable segments, consisting of: North, Central and South America; Europe, Africa, Russia and Caspian; the Middle East and North Africa; Asia Pacific; and Technology.

OWENS CORNING

Owens Corning is engaged in manufacturing and delivering a range of insulation, roofing, and fiberglass composite materials. The company's Composites segment includes vertically integrated downstream activities. The company manufactures, fabricates and sells glass reinforcements in the form of fiber. The company's Insulation segment includes a portfolio of high, mid and low-temperature products with a geographic mix of United States, Canada, Europe, Asia-Pacific and Latin America, a market mix of residential, commercial, industrial and other markets, and a channel mix of retail, contractor and distribution. The company's products in the Roofing segment are laminate and strip asphalt roofing shingles.

Praxair Inc.

Praxair is an industrial gas company in North and South America. The company's operations consist of two main product lines: industrial gases and surface technologies. The industrial gases product line centers on the manufacturing and distribution of atmospheric gases (oxygen, nitrogen, argon, rare gases) and process gases (carbon dioxide, helium, hydrogen, electronic gases, specialty gases, acetylene). The company's surface technologies segment supplies wear-resistant and high-temperature corrosion-resistant metallic and ceramic coatings and powders. The company's subsidiary, Praxair Surface Technologies, supplies wear-resistant and high-temperature corrosion-resistant metallic and ceramic coatings and powders.

Salesforce.com inc.

Salesforce.Com is engaged in customer relationship management technology. The company's Customer 360 is an integrated platform that unites sales, service, marketing, commerce, integration, analytics and more to give companies a single, shared view of their customers. Through its platform and other developer tools, the company also enables third parties to develop additional functionality and applications, or apps, that run on its platform, which are sold separately from or in conjunction with the company's service offerings. The company's cloud service offerings include sales cloud, service cloud, marketing and commerce cloud, and salesforce platform and other.

Sherwin-Williams Company

Sherwin-Williams is engaged in the development, manufacture, distribution and sale of paint, coatings and related products to industrial, commercial and retail customers. The company's segments are: The Americas Group, which markets and sells Sherwin-Williams? and other controlled brand architectural paint and coatings, protective and marine products, OEM product finishes and related products; Consumer Brands Group, which supplies architectural paints, stains, varnishes, and industrial products, among others; and Performance Coatings Group, which develops and sells industrial coatings, automotive refinish, protective and marine coatings, coil coatings, packaging coatings and resins and colorants.

Toyota Motor Corp.

Toyota Motor is an automobile manufacturer. Co. is primarily engaged in the design, manufacture, and sale of sedans, minivans, compact cars, sport-utility vehicles, trucks and related parts and accessories throughout the world. Co. provides financing, vehicle and equipment leasing and certain other financial services primarily to its dealers and their customers to support the sales of vehicles and other products manufactured by Co. Co.'s principal business segments are automotive operations, financial services operations and other operations. Co. sells its vehicles in approximately 190 countries and regions, and markets for its automobiles in Japan, North America, Europe and Asia.

UnitedHealth Group Incorporated

UnitedHealth Group is a health care company. The company has four reportable segments across its two business platforms, UnitedHealthcare and Optum: UnitedHealthcare, which provides health care benefits to an array of customers and markets through its UnitedHealthcare Employer & Individual, UnitedHealthcare Medicare & Retirement, UnitedHealthcare Community & State and UnitedHealthcare Global; OptumHealth, which serves the physical, emotional and health-related financial needs of individuals; OptumInsight, which provides services, technology and health care knowledge to main participants in the health care industry; and OptumRx, which provides pharmacy care services and programs.

Yum China Holdings Inc.

Yum China Holdings is a holding company. Through its subsidiaries, the company is a restaurant company in the People's Republic of China (China). The company's restaurant base consists of restaurant concepts, including KFC, Pizza Hut brands, as well as brands such as East Dawning, Little Sheep, Taco Bell and COFFii & JOY. The company has the right to operate and sublicense the KFC, Pizza Hut and Taco Bell brands in China (excluding Hong Kong, Taiwan and Macau), and own the intellectual property of the East Dawning, Little Sheep and COFFii & JOY concepts outright. Most restaurants in the KFC, Pizza Hut, East Dawning, Taco Bell and COFFii & JOY concepts provide delivery service.

Zoetis Inc. Class A

Zoetis is a holding company. Through its subsidiaries, the company is engaged in the discovery, development, manufacture and commercialization of animal health medicines, vaccines, and diagnostic products with a focus on both livestock and companion animals. The company operates in two segments: the United States and International. The company's main product categories are vaccines, anti-infectives, parasiticides, other pharmaceutical products, dermatology products, medicated feed additives, and animal health diagnostics. The company's other non-pharmaceutical product categories include nutritionals and agribusiness, as well as products and services including biodevices, genetic tests and precision livestock farming.

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  • GAAP and IFRS have failed to provide rules for reliable financial statement reporting
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Many years later, our business model remains because little has changed on Wall Street.

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