Report
Valens Research

Valens Equity Insights and Inflections - 2021 08 24

Current market expectations for EBAY are excessively pessimistic. Markets expect
UAFRS-based ROA (Uniform ROA or ROA') to decline significantly going forward, even though ROA' has remained robust since the company spun off the PayPal business in 2015.

However, EBAY has robust economic moats in its core marketplace, and it has successfully
simplified its business by selling a number of controlling interests it held in businesses like
StubHub, European classifieds, and Korean classifieds. It is the market leader in its core
business with strong competitive advantages, which give reasons for it to sustain its strong
returns going forward.

Management alignment and confidence in recent calls point to reasons to believe in the
sustainability and potential improvement in profitability going forward. Management is
specifically compensated to focus on ROIC improvement, even as the market is expecting
returns to decline. Management is also compensated to improve operating profitability and
revenue, guaranteeing they will seek to continue to invest in the business even while
sustaining current robust profitability.

Also, management has had confidence in their most recent earnings calls about their capital management and how they are growing their platform with both buyers and sellers.
Management is also confident about their innovation strategies to continue engaging the
marketplace.

Considering low market expectations, in terms of pessimism for both growth and Uniform
ROA, management's strong alignment, and confidence about sustaining strong fundamental performance, current low equity valuations appear unreasonable, spelling potential for equity upside.


HON Q2 2021 Embedded Expectations Analysis – Market expectations are for Uniform ROA to reach new peaks, but management may have concerns about demand, air travel recovery, and guidance

AAPL Q3 2021 Embedded Expectations Analysis – Market expectations are for Uniform ROA to recover, but management appears concerned about growth, services, and 5G adoption

MSFT Q4 2021 Embedded Expectations Analysis – Market expectations are for Uniform ROA to expand, but management may have concerns about growth, hybrid work, and gaming opportunities

EBAY, AAPL, HON, MSFT, AMZN, AYX, BBY, CC, CCL, CLF, F, JNJ, KMB, NEE, PLD, PM, SNAP, T, TSLA, TSN, VSTO
Underlyings
Alteryx

Alteryx provides data science and analytics. The company's analytics platform comprises: Alteryx Designer, its data profiling, preparation, blending, and analytics product used to create visual workflows or analytic processes; Alteryx Server, its server-based product for scheduling, sharing, and running analytic processes and applications in a web-based environment; Alteryx Connect, its collaborative data exploration platform for discovering information assets and sharing recommendations across the enterprise; and Alteryx Promote, its analytics model management product for data scientists and analytics teams to build, manage, monitor, and deploy predictive models into production applications.

Amazon.com Inc.

Amazon.com serves consumers through its online and physical stores. The company also manufactures and sells electronic devices, including Kindle, Fire tablet, Fire TV, Echo, and Ring, and the company develops and produces media content. The company operates customer service centers and provides programs that enable sellers to grow their businesses, sell their products in its stores, and fulfill orders through the company The company serves developers and enterprises of various sizes, including start-ups, government agencies, and academic institutions, through its Amazon Web Services segment, which provides a set of global compute, storage, database, and other service offerings. The company also provides services, such as advertising.

Apple Inc.

Apple designs, manufactures and markets smartphones, personal computers, tablets, wearables and accessories, and sells a variety of related services. The company's products include: iPhone; Mac; iPad; and wearables, home and accessories, which includes AirPods?, Apple TV?, Apple Watch?, Beats? products, HomePod?, iPod touch? and other Apple-branded and third-party accessories. The company's services include: digital content stores and streaming services; AppleCare, which includes AppleCare + (AC+) and the AppleCare Protection Plan; iCloud, which is the company's cloud service; licensing; and other services, which include Apple Arcade?, Apple Card?, Apple News+, and Apple Pay, a cashless payment service.

AT&T Inc.

AT&T is a holding company. Through its subsidiaries, the company is a provider of telecommunications, media and technology services. The company's Communications segment provides wireless and wireline telecom, video and broadband services. The company's WarnerMedia segment includes media and entertainment businesses that principally develop, produce and distribute feature films, television content, and other content globally; and operate digital media properties. The company's Latin America segment provides entertainment services in Latin America and wireless services in Mexico. The company's XANDR segment relies on using data from its customer relationships, to develop digital and video advertising that is relevant to consumers.

Best Buy Co. Inc.

Best Buy provides computing and mobile phones, consumer electronics, appliances, entertainment, services and other products. The company operates two reportable segments: Domestic, which is comprised of the operations in all states, districts and territories of the U.S. under various brand names including Best Buy, bestbuy.com, Best Buy Direct, Best Buy Express, Best Buy Mobile, Geek Squad, GreatCall, Magnolia and Pacific Kitchen and Home; and International, which is comprised of all operations in Canada and Mexico under the brand names Best Buy, Best Buy Express, Best Buy Mobile, Geek Squad and the domain names bestbuy.ca and bestbuy.com.mx.

Carnival Corporation

Chemours Co.

Chemours is a provider of performance chemicals. The company has three reportable segments: Fluoroproducts, Chemical Solutions, and Titanium Technologies. The company's Fluoroproducts segment is a provider of fluoroproducts, including refrigerants and industrial fluoropolymer resins. The company's Chemical Solutions segment is a North American provider of industrial chemicals used in gold production, industrial, and consumer applications. The company's Titanium Technologies segment is a provider of titanium dioxide pigment, a white pigment used to deliver whiteness, brightness, opacity, and protection in a variety of applications.

Cleveland-Cliffs Inc

Cleveland-Cliffs is an iron ore mining company. The company is a supplier of iron ore pellets to the North American steel industry from its mines and pellet plants located in Michigan and Minnesota. The company is organized according to its differentiated products. The company has two segments: Mining and Pelletizing, which the company is a main producer of iron ore pellets, primarily selling production from its Mining and Pelletizing segment to integrated steel companies in the U.S. and Canada; and Metallics, which constructing a Hot Briquetted Iron (HBI) production plant, whereby HBI is an iron alternative to scrap that, when used as a feedstock, allows an Electric Arc Furnace to produces valuable grades of steel.

EBay Inc.

eBay is a global commerce provider, which includes its Marketplace, StubHub and Classifieds platforms. The company's Marketplace platforms include its online marketplace located at www.ebay.com, its localized counterparts and the eBay suite of mobile apps. The company's StubHub platforms include its online ticket platform located at www.stubhub.com, its localized counterparts and the StubHub mobile apps. These platforms connect fans with their favorite sporting events, shows and artists and enable them to buy and sell tickets whenever and wherever they want. The company's Classifieds platforms include a collection of brands such as mobile.de, Kijiji, Gumtree, Marktplaats, eBay Kleinanzeigen and others.

Ford Motor Company

Ford Motor designs, manufactures, markets, and services a line of Ford cars, trucks, sport utility vehicles, electrified vehicles, and Lincoln vehicles, as well as provides financial services through its subsidiary, Ford Motor Credit Company LLC. The company is engaged in electrification; mobility solutions, including self-driving services; and connected vehicle services. The company has three operating segments: Automotive, which includes the sale of Ford and Lincoln vehicles, service parts, and accessories; Mobility, which includes its autonomous vehicles and its investment in mobility through Ford Smart Mobility LLC; and Ford Credit, which includes vehicle-related financing and leasing activities.

Honeywell International Inc.

Honeywell International is a technology and manufacturing company. The company has four segments: Aerospace, which supplies products, software and services for aircrafts; Honeywell Building Technologies, which provides products, software, solutions and technologies including building control and optimization, energy management, access control, video surveillance, fire products, and remote patient monitoring systems; Performance Materials and Technologies, which develops and manufactures chemicals and materials, process technologies and automation solutions; and Safety and Productivity Solutions, which provides products and software that improve productivity, workplace safety and asset performance.

Johnson & Johnson

Johnson & Johnson is a holding company engaged in the research and development, manufacture and sale of a range of products in the health care field. The company has three business segments: Consumer, which includes a range of products focused on personal healthcare used in the beauty, over-the-counter pharmaceutical, baby care, oral care, women's health and wound care markets; Pharmaceutical, which is focused on six therapeutic areas: immunology, infectious diseases, neuroscience, oncology, cardiovascular and metabolism and pulmonary hypertension; and Medical Devices, which includes products used in the orthopaedic, surgery, interventional solutions, and eye health fields.

Kimberly-Clark Corporation

Kimberly-Clark is principally engaged in the manufacturing and marketing of a range of products primarily made from natural or synthetic fibers using technologies in fibers, nonwovens and absorbency. The company is organized into three operating segments: Personal Care, which provides solutions and products such as disposable diapers, training and youth pants, swimpants, baby wipes, feminine and incontinence care products, and other related products; Consumer Tissue, which provides facial and bathroom tissue, paper towels, napkins and related products; and K-C Professional, which provides a range of solutions and supporting products such as wipers, tissue, towels, apparel, soaps and sanitizers.

Microsoft Corporation

Microsoft is a technology company. The company develops and supports software, services, devices, and solutions. The company provides an array of services, including cloud-based solutions as well as solution support and consulting services. The company also delivers relevant online advertising. The company's products include operating systems; cross-device productivity applications; server applications; business solution applications; desktop and server management tools; software development tools; and video games. The company also designs, manufactures, and sells devices, including personal computers, tablets, gaming and entertainment consoles, other devices, and related accessories.

NextEra Energy Inc.

NextEra Energy is a holding company, engaged in electric power and energy infrastructure. The company has two principal businesses, Florida Power & Light Company (FPL) and NextEra Energy Resources, LLC (NEER). FPL is a rate-regulated electric utility engaged primarily in the generation, transmission, distribution and sale of electric energy in Florida. FPL provides service to its electric customers through a transmission and distribution system that links its generation facilities to its customers. NEER, through its subsidiaries, owns, develops, constructs, manages and operates electric generation facilities in wholesale energy markets primarily in the United States and Canada.

Philip Morris International Inc.

Philip Morris International is a holding company. Through its subsidiaries, the company is a tobacco company engaged in the manufacture and sale of cigarettes, smoke-free products and associated electronic devices and accessories, and other nicotine-containing products in markets outside the United States. The company's portfolio comprises international and local brands including Marlboro, which is complemented in the premium-price category by Parliament. The company's other international cigarette brands are Bond Street, Chesterfield, L&M, Lark and Philip Morris. The company also owns various local cigarette brands, such as Dji Sam Soe, Sampoerna A and Sampoerna U in Indonesia, and Fortune and Jackpot in the Philippines.

Prologis Inc.

Prologis is a self-administered and self-managed real estate investment trust and is the sole general partner of Prologis, L.P. The company owns, manages and develops logistics facilities, with a focus on the consumption side of the global supply chain. Most of the company's properties in the United States are wholly owned, while its properties outside the United States are primarily held in co-investment ventures. The company has two segments: Real Estate Operations, which represents the ownership and development of operating properties, and includes land held for development and properties under development; and Strategic Capital, which represents the management of unconsolidated co-investment ventures.

Snap Inc. Class A

Snap is a camera company. The company's primary product, Snapchat, is a camera application that helps people to communicate visually through short videos and images called Snaps. The company's products are: Camera, which includes tools for people to personalize their Snaps; Chat, which includes interacting with friends on Snapchat; Discover, which includes providing Stories and Shows from publishers, creators, and the community; Snap Map, which shows a live map of the user's location; Memories, which enables users to save the Snaps they create in a personal collection called Memories; and Spectacles, which includes creating Memories by using Spectacles, which are the company's sunglasses that make Snaps.

Tesla Inc

Tesla designs, develops, manufactures, sells and leases electric vehicles and energy generation and storage systems, and provides services related to its products. The company operates as two reportable segments: automotive, which includes the design, development, manufacturing, sales, and leasing of electric vehicles as well as sales of automotive regulatory credits; and energy generation and storage, which includes the design, manufacture, installation, sales, and leasing of solar energy generation and energy storage products, services related to such products, and sales of solar energy system incentives.

Tyson Foods Inc. Class A

Tyson Foods is a food company. The company's operations consist of breeding stock, contract farmers, feed production, processing, further-processing, marketing and transportation of chicken and related allied products, including animal and pet food ingredients. Through its wholly-owned subsidiary, Cobb-Vantress, Inc., the company is engaged as poultry breeding stock supplier. The company also processes live fed cattle and hogs and fabricates dressed beef and pork carcasses into primal and sub-primal meat cuts, case-ready beef and pork and fully-cooked meats. The company produces a range of fresh, frozen and refrigerated food products. The company operates in Beef, Pork, Chicken and Prepared Foods segments.

Vista Outdoor Inc

Vista Outdoor is a designer, manufacturer and marketer of consumer products in the outdoor sports and recreation markets. The company's Outdoor Products product lines are action sports, archery/hunting accessories, outdoor cooking, golf, hydration products, optics, shooting accessories and tactical products. The Shooting Sports segment designs, develops, produces, and sources ammunition and firearms for the hunting and sport shooting markets, as well as ammunition for local law enforcement, the U.S. government and international markets. The Shooting Sports product lines include centerfire ammunition, rimfire ammunition, shotshell ammunition, reloading components, and firearms.

Provider
Valens Research
Valens Research

In 2009, just as the dust was settling from the last major equity and credit market crises, we launched a boutique research firm with the intention of breaking Wall Street’s biases and broken incentives:

  • GAAP and IFRS have failed to provide rules for reliable financial statement reporting
  • Stock analyst recommendations are not grounded in disciplined financial analysis
  • Credit agencies have been set up to grossly fail in their responsibilities to investors and the public markets
  • Utter lack of willingness of major research firms to employ the the most advanced forensic analysis available

We sought to provide investors and company analysts with a source of information that changed all that.
Many years later, our business model remains because little has changed on Wall Street.

  • Corporate credit ratings remain years behind the fundamental underpinnings of company performance
  • Stock analysts continue to make recommendations with deeply inherent biases
  • Research firms have failed to break down the walls between credit, equity, and macroeconomic research
  • The governing accounting bodies have created more leeway for mis-estimates and mis-classifications as financials have become unwieldy and overwhelming

The integrity of Valens Research is founded in our disciplined processes and analytics. No “star” analysts. No corporate advisory relationships. No-nonsense opinions and recommendations.

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