Author: Noah Kiedrowski

Is Facebook Finally A Buy After The Tech Rout?

Posted on by Noah Kiedrowski

Is Facebook (FB) finally de-risked after its self-inflicted data misuse privacy scandal and the rout in the technology sector? Facebook has been mired in privacy scandals, public relations mismanagement and a very public exodus of many high-level departures across the company. If this wasn’t bad enough, Facebook totally dropped the ball on its second quarter conference call, wiping out $119 billion in market capitalization in a single session marking the worst one day drop for any large-cap company in history. This negative backdrop was met with a technology sell-off in the fourth quarter of 2018 culminating into the perfect set-up to knock the stock into bear market territory. Facebook sold-off during these two waves from $218 in July to a low of $123 in December of 2018, logging a 43% decline over this five-month period. Despite the aforementioned stock implosion, Facebook remains one of the most compelling large-cap growth companies posting double-digit growth with P/E and PEG ratios well below its peers. Recently, JPMorgan reiterated Facebook as a “best idea” and expects the stock reach $195 and “climb the wall of worry.” Baird also came out with an outperform rating basing its target of $195 on stabilizing engagement on its Facebook platform and growth in its Instagram property. Facebook has grown its revenues by over 30% for 20 consecutive quarters with its latest quarter coming in at 33% revenue growth. As this revenue streak continues coupled with the dramatic decline in its stock and cheap valuation, I think Facebook is de-risked. The technology cohort has started to show signs of resurgence with Facebook and Netflix (NFLX) leading the pack with plenty of upside for the former.

2018 Disaster

Ancillary fallout emanating from its data misuse scandal involving Cambridge Analytica continued to surface throughout 2018 across the globe in various regions. Security issues affecting 50 million accounts, a lawsuit alleging concealing video admeasurements and increasing EU scrutiny plagued the stock. The original mishandling user data resulted in the stock tumbling from $195 to $152 or ~20% at the time. Facebook appreciated off those data misuse lows and broke out to $220 however this scenario ended abruptly on the heels of its Q2 earnings. Facebook issued a major guide down in growth for the next few quarters tampering growth expectations in the near term. Facebook faced a challenging confluence of slowing revenue growth, margin compression and stagnant daily active users in the near to intermediate term. There was an initiative that had the backing of four large institutional investors to remove Mark Zuckerberg as Facebook’s chairman in the wake of all of these security issues. Continue reading "Is Facebook Finally A Buy After The Tech Rout?" →

Bear Market Takes Down AMC - Buying Opportunity?

Posted on by Noah Kiedrowski

AMC Entertainment Holdings Inc. (AMC) has been mauled by the bear during the fourth quarter stock market rout along with the broader indices. Despite a record-breaking year at the box office for 2018, AMC saw its stock plummet from ~$20 to ~$12 per share or shedding 40% of its market value. The stock currently sits at ~$13.50 or still over 30% off its 52-week high representing a compelling buy in the backdrop of a record-setting year at the box office, robust slate of movies for 2019, rapidly growing loyalty program with over 600,000 members, a strong consumer, dividend yield of over 5% and accelerating revenue and EPS growth. AMC is reengaging the consumer via digital, mobile and loyalty program options, reformatting theaters to enhance the user experience and international expansion augmented by a healthy share buyback program.

Furthermore, AMC has established relationships with Facebook (FB) and Groupon (GRPN) to drive ticket sales to AMC theaters. The stock looks very attractive considering its depressed valuation, industry strength forecasted through 2019 coupled with a slew of company initiatives to drive the consumer experience. The long term growth narrative remains intact while revenue continues to grow at a healthy clip.

AMC Continues Improving Business – Q3 Earnings

AMC has been establishing firm footing of improving fundamentals across the entire enterprise which were highlighted during its latest earnings announcement for Q3 2018. For the first none months ending September 30th, total revenues increased 10.5% to $4,047.5 million. Admissions revenues grew 8.2% to $2,522.7 million while attendance increased globally by 4.1% and increased by 6.4% in the U.S. Food and beverage revenues increased 9.1% to $1,236.4 million and other revenues increased 46.5% to $288.4 million. AMC is poised to post company records for the full year 2018 in all revenue categories: admissions, food and beverage and other. Continue reading "Bear Market Takes Down AMC - Buying Opportunity?" →

Disney - Compelling Long-Term Investment In 2019 and Beyond

Posted on by Noah Kiedrowski

Stocks are entering 2019 in bear market territory and posted its worse quarter since the Great Depression after imploding in Q4 of 2018. Disney (DIS) has been a diamond in the rough given the negative backdrop albeit down from its 52-week high by 8%. This stock has bucked the negative trend and has demonstrated its resilience during this period. As this sell-off presents itself, long-term investors may want to take advantage of this weakness and initiate a position in this high-quality company at a discount. All the initiatives that Disney has taken over the previous two years to restore growth appear to be coming to fruition, namely its Fox (FOX) acquisition and its streaming initiatives. The Fox acquisition is complete now that the U.S. and China provided the green light for the combined entity thus Fox’s assets are now definitively being absorbed by Disney. As part of the contingencies, Disney is divesting its 39% Sky ownership stake that it acquired via the Fox acquisition to Comcast (CMCSA). This divestiture enables Disney to reduce its debt that was required to purchase the Fox media assets and will allow more investment into its streaming services such as Hulu, ESPN Plus and its Disney branded streaming service that will directly compete with Netflix (NFLX). The Fox acquisition brings a majority stake in Hulu (60% ownership) while its ESPN Plus launched earlier this year and had over 1 million subscribers in its early phases of being rolled out. Disney continues to dominate at the box office while posting great growth at its theme parks translating into a robust and durable revenue stream. The company is evolving to meet the new age of media consumption demands of the consumer via streaming and on-demand content. To this end, shareholders and analysts are beginning to resonate with Disney’s vision for future growth. This was reflected in its stock and had appreciated to a 52-week high before the market wide meltdown. Disney offers a compelling long-term investment opportunity in light of the recent weakness given its reinvention catalysts that will continue to bear fruit over the coming years. Continue reading "Disney - Compelling Long-Term Investment In 2019 and Beyond" →

Visa: The Valuation Conundrum In A Frothy Market - Part Two

Posted on by Noah Kiedrowski

I wrote a piece back in July “Visa: The Valuation Conundrum In A Frothy Market” putting forth my belief that Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) did not possess the growth characteristics to justify its valuation and its appreciation was largely a function of its Visa Europe acquisition and the overall bull market. This bull market was rewarding stocks with sky-high valuations particularly in the technology sector which has recently fallen out of favor. The recent market wide sell-off in equities during the fourth quarter has erased all gains for the broader S&P 500 index and many individual stocks. Despite this market wide sell-off, Visa has delivered great returns in 2018, appreciating 23% and currently sits at $137 per share against a 52-week high of $151. Visa faces emerging threats in the digital payments space, blockchain technology and maturing markets in the traditional payments space leading to slower growth prospects. I’ve been reluctant to get behind the stock of Visa considering its valuation, slowing growth and trends away from the traditional credit card space among the younger demographics that embrace PayPal (PYPL) and PayPal’s Venmo for payment options and exchanging payments between multiple parties. There’s also Zelle that is now powering transfers to and from bank accounts, adding to the digital evolution in the payments space. Amazon (AMZN) may be disrupting the credit card transaction space with its potential launch of Amazon financial services and Amazon Pay. I feel that shareholders have become overly enthusiastic about Visa’s growth prospects. The stock has appreciated over 20% this year, boasts a P/E of over 30 and a PEG of over 1.7 in the midst of a frothy market that has only recently sold off. This scenario doesn’t provide a great benefit-reward profile at these levels in my opinion unless the market wide pull back brings Visa more in-line with its growth profile.

Visa Fiscal Q4 Earnings and Valuation Paradox

Visa reported its fiscal Q4 earnings that beat on EPS by $0.01 (EPS of $1.21) and missed on revenue estimates by $10 million (revenue of $5.43 billion) which grew by 11.7% year-over-year. Visa also provided guidance for its fiscal 2019, “annual net revenue growth: Low double-digits on a nominal basis, with approximately one percentage point of negative foreign currency impact.”

I feel Visa’s stock price is still misaligned with its overall revenue growth prospects with an unjustified P/E and PEG ratio that remains higher than the majority of large-cap growth stocks that have a greater growth profile. Visa’s management has forecasted continued revenue growth in the low double digits with EPS growth in the mid-teens, artificially high due to share buybacks. This forward-looking revenue growth rate is a shape divergence from the post-Europe Visa acquisition revenue growth numbers. Visa’s growth rate is slowing from these artificially high post Visa numbers thus misaligned with its growth profile. Continue reading "Visa: The Valuation Conundrum In A Frothy Market - Part Two" →