Report
Valens Research

Valens Equity Insights and Inflections - 2022 02 01

Acuity Brands (AYI) is the best positioned company to implement smart, connected
lighting solutions as more companies and individuals look to adopt more IoT solutions. It
is making smart investments into platforms to support its lighting solutions. Uniform
Accounting highlights that the market is pricing in a reversal of recent profitability
expansion, but management is confident about its momentum and is aligned to continue
executing on improving profitability, signaling the potential for equity upside as the
company continues executing.

Acuity has been investing heavily in the next wave of connected lights, including solutions
that will help buildings manage their systems remotely. Its new innovative lighting solutions
and platforms to support those lights will push clients towards a new investment cycle,
which should drive profitability in the coming years. If the company is able to continue
executing, keeping returns stable or improving, it should be able to beat market
expectations.

AYI's management is closely aligned to focus on margins and asset efficiency, which should
drive profitability expansion.

Management confidence in the Q1 earnings call about continued momentum in its lighting
segment and direct sales channel suggest continued strong execution.

ROST Q3 2021 Embedded Expectations Analysis – Market expectations are for Uniform ROA to rebound to previous levels, but management may have concerns about growth and margins

CME Q3 2021 Embedded Expectations Analysis – Market expectations are for Uniform ROA to reach new peaks, and management is confident about futures volume and revenue growth

DAL Q4 2021 Embedded Expectations Analysis – Market expectations are for Uniform ROA to inflect positively, and management is confident about demand and growth

AYI, CME, DAL, ROST, AAL, BKNG, COST, CSCO, HGV, QCOM, TJX
Underlyings
Acuity Brands Inc.

Acuity Brands is a provider of lighting and building management solutions and services for commercial, institutional, industrial, infrastructure, and residential applications. The company's lighting and building management solutions include devices such as luminaires, lighting controls, controllers for various building systems, power supplies, prismatic skylights, and drivers, as well as integrated systems designed for various indoor and outdoor applications. In addition, the company provides services across applications that primarily relate to monitoring and controlling lighting and building management systems through network technologies and the commissioning of control systems.

American Airlines Group Inc.

American Airlines Group is a holding company. Through its subsidiaries, the company's business activity is the operation of a primary network carrier, providing scheduled air transportation for passengers and cargo. The company's regional carriers provide scheduled air transportation under American Eagle. The American Eagle carriers include the company's regional carriers Envoy Aviation Group Inc., PSA Airlines, Inc. and Piedmont Airlines, Inc., as well as third-party regional carriers including Republic Airline Inc., Mesa Airlines, Inc., SkyWest Airlines, Inc. and Compass Airlines, LLC. The company's cargo division provides freight and mail services, with facilities and interline connections available across the globe.

Booking Holdings Inc.

Booking Holdings provides travel and restaurant online reservation and related services. The company's brands include: Booking.com and Rentalcars.com, in which Booking.com provides booking online accommodation reservations, based on room nights booked, and Rentalcars.com provides online rental car reservation services; KAYAK, which provides an online price comparison service; Priceline, which provides consumers hotel, rental car and airline ticket reservation services, and vacation packages and cruises; Agoda, which is an online accommodation reservation service; and OpenTable, which provides online restaurant reservation services to consumers and reservation management services to restaurants.

Cisco Systems Inc.

Cisco Systems designs and sells a range of technologies that power the Internet. The company's business is organized into the following three geographic segments: Americas; Europe, Middle East, and Africa; and Asia Pacific, Japan, and China. The company's products and technologies are grouped into the following categories: Infrastructure Platforms; Applications; Security and Other Products. In addition to its product offerings, the company provides a range of service offerings, including technical support services and other services. The company delivers its technologies through software and services. The company's customers include businesses of all sizes, public institutions, governments, and service providers.

CME Group Inc. Class A

CME Group is a holding company. Through its subsidiaries, the company exchanges provides a range of global benchmark products across asset classes based on interest rates, equity indexes, foreign exchange (FX), agricultural, energy and metal commodities. The company provides futures and options on futures trading across asset classes through its subsidiary, Chicago Mercantile Exchange Inc. (CME) Globex platform, cash and repo fixed income trading via BrokerTec, and cash and OTC FX trading via EBS. In addition, the company operates central counterparty clearing providers, CME Clearing, a division of CME. The company also provides optimization, reconciliation and processing services through TriOptima, Traiana and Reset.

Costco Wholesale Corporation

Costco Wholesale and its subsidiaries are principally engaged in the operation of membership warehouses based on the concept of providing its members low prices on a selection of nationally branded and private-label products. The company's merchandise are: food and sundries, which include dry foods, packaged foods, and groceries, snack foods, candy, alcoholic and nonalcoholic beverages, and cleaning supplies; hardlines, which include appliances, electronics, health and beauty aids, hardware, and garden and patio; fresh food, which include meat, produce, deli, and bakery; softlines, which include apparel and small appliances; and ancillary, which include gas stations and pharmacy businesses.

Delta Air Lines Inc.

Delta Air Lines provides scheduled air transportation for passengers and cargo. The company serves the Transatlantic, Transpacific and Latin America markets directly on the company and through joint ventures with airline partners. Internationally, the company has hubs and market presence in Amsterdam, London-Heathrow, Mexico City, Paris-Charles de Gaulle and Seoul-Incheon. These arrangements are commercial joint ventures that include joint sales and marketing coordination, co-location of airport facilities and other commercial cooperation arrangements. The company has other businesses arising from its airline operations, including providing maintenance and engineering support for its regional aircraft.

Hilton Grand Vacations Inc.

Hilton Grand Vacations is a timeshare company engaged in developing, marketing, selling and managing timeshare resorts under the Hilton Grand Vacations brand. The company's operations mainly consist of: selling vacation ownership intervals for it and third parties; financing and servicing loans provided to consumers for their timeshare purchases; operating resorts; and managing its points-based Hilton Grand Vacations Club and Hilton Club exchange program. The company has properties located in vacation destinations such as the Orlando, Las Vegas, Hawaiian Islands, New York City, Washington D.C. and South Carolina. The company's segments are: real estate sales and financing and resort operations and club management.

Qualcomm Inc

Qualcomm is engaged in the development and commercialization of foundational technologies for the wireless industry. The company's segments include: Qualcomm CDMA Technologies, which is a developer and supplier of integrated circuits and system software based on code division multiple access, orthogonal frequency division multiple access and other technologies; Qualcomm Technology Licensing, which grants licenses or otherwise provides rights to use portions of its intellectual property portfolio, which, among other rights, include certain patent rights essential to and/or useful in the manufacture and sale of certain wireless products; and Qualcomm Strategic Initiatives, which makes investments.

Ross Stores Inc.

Ross Stores and its subsidiaries operate two brands of off-price retail apparel and home fashion stores, which are Ross Dress for Less? (Ross) and dd's DISCOUNTS?. Ross provides name brand and designer apparel, accessories, footwear, and home fashions for the entire family at savings of 20% to 60% off department and specialty store regular prices every day. dd's DISCOUNTS provides name brand apparel, accessories, footwear, and home fashions for the entire family at savings of 20% to 70% off moderate department and discount store regular prices every day. Both of the company's Ross and dd's DISCOUNTS brands target women and men between the ages of 18 and 54.

TJX Companies Inc

TJX Companies is an off-price apparel and home fashions retailer. The company's segments comprised of: Marmaxx, which sells family apparel (including footwear and accessories), home fashions (including home basics, decorative accessories and giftware) and other merchandise; HomeGoods, which provides a range of home fashions, including home fashions, including furniture, rugs, lighting, soft home, decorative accessories, tabletop and cookware as well as pet, kids and gourmet food departments; TJX Canada, which operates the Winners, HomeSense and Marshalls chains in Canada; and TJX International, which operates the T.K. Maxx and HomeSense chains in Europe and the T.K. Maxx chain in Australia.

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