Report
Valens Research

Valens Equity Insights and Inflections - 2018 05 02

YUM currently trades near historical highs relative to UAFRS-based (Uniform) Earnings, with a 25.6x Uniform P/E. At these levels, the market is pricing in expectations for continued rapid Uniform ROA expansion, from peak 35% levels in 2017 to 50% by 2022, accompanied by no further Uniform Asset shrinkage. Analysts have similar expectations, projecting Uniform ROA to improve to 41% by 2019, accompanied by 4% Uniform Asset shrinkage. However, Valens' qualitative analysis of the firm's Q4 2017 earnings call highlights that management has concerns about their initiatives, operating profit, and growth. At current valuations, markets are pricing in a near-best-case scenario for YUM, and considering management concerns about their outlook, any negative surprise could lead to material equity downside.

JD Q4 2017 Embedded Expectations Analysis – Market expectations are for record-high Uniform ROA, but management has concerns about their investments, merchants, and profitability

LRCX Q3 2018 Embedded Expectations Analysis – Strong industry momentum and positive management sentiment suggest LRCX remains undervalued given current bearish market expectations, with further equity upside likely

ZG Q1 2018 Embedded Expectations Analysis – Although management sentiment suggests near-term returns may be muted, overly bearish market expectations suggest longer-term upside remains warranted

ALRM, ALV, ALXN, CAH, CON:DEU, CSX, FAST, HM B:CHE, IBM, LEA, MHK, MPC, MTD, SBAC
Underlyings
Alarm.com Holdings Inc.

Alarm.com is a platform for the intelligently connected property. The company provides a suite of cloud-based solutions for smart residential and commercial properties. The company's service provider partners can deploy its interactive security, video monitoring, intelligent automation and energy management solutions as stand-alone offerings or as combined solutions to address the needs of a range of customers. The company's subscribers can connect to their property through the company's family of mobile apps, websites, and engagement platforms like voice control through Amazon Echo and Google Home, wearable devices like the Apple Watch and TV platforms such as Apple TV and Amazon Fire TV.

Alexion Pharmaceuticals Inc.

Alexion Pharmaceuticals is a biopharmaceutical company serving patients and families affected by rare diseases through the discovery, development and commercialization of therapies. The company has developed and commercialized two complement inhibitors to treat patients with paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria and atypical hemolytic uremic syndrome, as well as the complement inhibitor to treat anti-acetylcholine receptor antibody-positive generalized myasthenia gravis and neuromyelitis optica spectrum disorder in patients who are anti-aquaporin-4 antibody positive. In addition, the company has two enzyme replacement therapies for metabolic disorders, hypophosphatasia and lysosomal acid lipase deficiency.

Autoliv Inc.

Cardinal Health Inc.

Cardinal Health is a healthcare services and products company providing customized solutions for hospitals, healthcare systems, pharmacies, ambulatory surgery centers, clinical laboratories and physician offices. The company's segments include: Pharmaceutical and Medical. The company's Pharmaceutical segment distributes branded and generic pharmaceutical, specialty pharmaceutical and over-the-counter healthcare and consumer products in the United States. The company's Medical segment manufactures, sources and distributes Cardinal Health branded medical, surgical and laboratory products, which are sold in the United States, Canada, Europe, Asia and other markets.

CONTINENTAL AKTIENGESELLSCHAFT

Continental is an automotive industry supplier. Co.'s automotive divisions comprised of: Chassis & Safety, which develops and produces systems that provide safety and enhanced vehicle dynamics; Powertrain, which develops solutions for gasoline and diesel engines, as well as hybrid and electrical drive systems; and Interior, which provides solutions for information management within vehicles and networking between vehicles. Co.'s rubber divisions comprised of: Tires, which provides tires for passenger cars through trucks, buses and construction site vehicles to special vehicles, motorcycles and bicycles; and ContiTech, which develops products made from rubber and plastic.

CSX Corporation

CSX provides rail-based freight transportation services. The company's principal operating subsidiary, CSX Transportation, Inc., provides a link to the transportation supply chain through its rail network, which serves centers in states east of the Mississippi River, the District of Columbia and the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Quebec. The company's CSX Intermodal Terminals, Inc. subsidiary owns and operates a system of intermodal terminals, primarily in the eastern United States and also performs drayage services (the pickup and delivery of intermodal shipments). The company's Total Distribution Services, Inc. subsidiary serves the automotive industry with distribution centers and storage locations.

Fastenal Company

Fastenal is engaged in the wholesale distribution of industrial and construction supplies. The company is a distributor of fasteners and related industrial and construction supplies. This includes threaded fasteners, bolts, nuts, screws, studs, and related washers, as well as miscellaneous supplies and hardware, such as pins, machinery keys, concrete anchors, metal framing systems, wire rope, strut, rivets, and related accessories. The company's fastener product line is primarily sold under the Fastenal product name.

H&M Hennes & Mauritz AB Class B

H & M Hennes & Mauritz is engaged in the sale of clothing and cosmetics in Sweden and internationally. Co.'s stores offer basics, tailored classics, sportswear, and maternity clothes for women; basics, leisurewear, and seasonal fashions for men; denim and street fashions; and fashion wear for children and teenagers, as well as accessories, underwear, and shoes. Co. also provides makeup and body care products; and home fashion products, which include interior textiles for the bedroom, bathroom, living room, and kitchen. Co. has approximately 3,132 stores, including 110 franchise stores, 85 COS stores, 79 Monki stores, 21 Weekday stores, 8 & Other Stories stores and 3 Cheap Monday stores.

International Business Machines Corporation

International Business Machines provides integrated solutions and products that utilize data, information technology, capability in industries and business processes. The company has five segments: Cloud and Cognitive Software, which provides a range of software offerings; Global Business Services, which provides consulting, systems integration, application management and business process outsourcing services; Global Technology Services, which provides project services, managed and outsourcing services, cloud-delivered services, and technical and IT support services; Systems, which provides technology and service; and Global Financing, which provides client financing, among others.

JD.com Inc. Sponsored ADR Class A

Lam Research Corporation

Lam Research is a supplier of wafer fabrication equipment and services to the semiconductor industry. The company designs, manufactures, markets, refurbishes, and services semiconductor processing equipment used in the fabrication of integrated circuits. The company's customer base includes semiconductor memory, foundry, and integrated device manufacturers that make products such as non-volatile memory, dynamic random-access memory, and logic devices. The company's services include customer service, spares, improvement, and refurbishment of its deposition, etch, and clean products. The company sells its products and services to companies in the United States, China, Europe, Japan, Korea, Southeast Asia, and Taiwan.

Lear Corporation

Lear is a supplier to the automotive industry. The company supplies seating, electrical distribution systems and electronic modules, as well as related sub-systems, components and software, to automotive manufacturers. The company has two segments: Seating, which consists of the design, development, engineering, just-in-time assembly and delivery of seat systems, and the design, development, engineering and manufacture of seat components; and E-Systems, which consists of the design, development, engineering and manufacture of electrical distribution systems, and electronic control modules, electrification products, connectivity products and software solutions for the cloud, vehicles and mobile devices.

Marathon Petroleum Corporation

Marathon Petroleum is an independent petroleum refining and marketing, retail and midstream company. The company's segments include: Refining and Marketing, which refines crude oil and other feedstocks at its refineries, purchases refined products and ethanol for resale and distributes refined products; Retail, which sells transportation fuels and convenience products in the retail market across the U.S.; and Midstream, which transports, stores, distributes and markets crude oil and refined products via refining logistics assets, pipelines, terminals, towboats and barges, gathers, processes and transports natural gas, and gathers, transports, fractionates, stores and markets natural gas liquids.

Mettler-Toledo International Inc.

Mettler-Toledo International is a supplier of precision instruments and services. The company manufactures weighing instruments for use in laboratory, industrial, packaging, logistics, and food retailing applications. The company also manufactures several related analytical instruments and provides automated chemistry solutions used in drug and chemical compound discovery and development. In addition, the company manufactures metal detection and other end-of-line inspection systems used in production and packaging and provides solutions for use in certain process analytics applications. The company has five segments: United States Operations, Swiss Operations, Western European Operations, Chinese Operations, and Other.

Mohawk Industries Inc.

Mohawk Industries is a global flooring manufacturer for residential and commercial spaces around the world. The company has three segments: Global Ceramic, which designs, manufactures, sources, distributes and markets a line of ceramic, porcelain and natural stone tile products used for floor and wall applications; Flooring North America, which designs, manufactures, sources and distributes broadloom carpet, carpet tile, rugs and mats, carpet pad, laminate, medium-density fiberboard, luxury vinyl tile (LVT) and sheet vinyl; and Flooring Rest of the World, which designs, manufactures, sources and distributes laminate, LVT and sheet vinyl, wood flooring, broadloom carpet and carpet tile collections.

SBA Communications Corp. Class A

SBA Communications is a holding company. Through its subsidiaries, the company is an owner and operator of wireless communications infrastructure, including tower structures, rooftops, and other structures that support antennas used for wireless communications. The company's operations are in the U.S. and its territories. In its site leasing business, the company leases antenna space to wireless service providers on towers that the company owns or operates and manages rooftop and tower sites for property owners under various contractual arrangements. In its site development business, the company assists wireless service providers in developing and maintaining their own wireless service networks.

Yum! Brands Inc.

Yum! Brands franchises or operates a system of quick service restaurants through its KFC, Pizza Hut and Taco Bell brands. The company's operating segments consist of the KFC Division, the Pizza Hut Division and the Taco Bell Division. KFC restaurants provides fried and non-fried chicken products such as sandwiches, chicken strips, chicken-on-the-bone and other chicken products marketed under a variety of names. Pizza Hut is engaged in the sale of ready-to-eat pizza products. Pizza Hut operates in the delivery, carryout and casual dining segments. Taco Bell is engaged in Mexican-style food products, including various types of tacos, burritos, quesadillas, salads, nachos and other related items.

Zillow Group Inc. Class A

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  • GAAP and IFRS have failed to provide rules for reliable financial statement reporting
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