January 31, 20190Comments

The Fed Is Irrelevant: Low Interest Rates Are the New Normal

We believe Jerome Powell's announcement that the Fed is not planning to raise rates in the immediate future validates the key points we made over two years ago.

by Sam McBride

December 13, 20180Comments

How Debt to Equity Can Mislead Investors

Millions of professional investors will soon see over $3 trillion in new debt added to corporate balance sheets, which will affect some stocks and sectors much more than others.

by Sam McBride

December 3, 20180Comments

The “Earnings Recovery” Remains an Accounting Mirage

U.S. equities may have rebounded from 2015 lows, but economic earnings – which reverse accounting distortions and account for the weighted average cost of capital – remain in a persistent downturn.

by Kyle Guske II, Senior Investment Analyst, MBA

October 22, 20180Comments

Danger Zone: Investors Who Ignore Accounting Rule Changes

Investors that don’t pay attention to this accounting rule change are taking on unnecessary risk by mistaking an upcoming change as a fundamental change in these businesses.

by Sam McBride

August 22, 20180Comments

Worst Offenders: Pension Discount Rates

This report red flags the firms with the most underfunded pensions and the most aggressive discount rate assumptions for future benefit obligations.

by Sam McBride

July 16, 20184Comments

5 Charts That Prove We’re Not in Another Tech Bubble

When you dig past the noise and look at the data, it’s clear that there’s no comparison between today and 1999. Valuations today are stretched, but not in bubble territory.

by Sam McBride

June 18, 20182Comments

Worst Offenders: Expected Return On Plan Assets

This report red flags the firms with the most underfunded pensions and the most aggressive assumptions for returns they expect to earn on the pension assets.

by Sam McBride

May 9, 20181Comments

Can the Market Grow Into its Valuation?

The good news is that the market’s valuation remains well below its pre-2008 levels. Barring any major negative news (e.g. an oil crisis), we expect to see a relatively flat market for the rest of 2018 as company fundamentals catch up to the gains of last year.

by Sam McBride

April 4, 20182Comments

ISS Buying EVA Dimensions Signals More Focus on Fundamental Research

Sophisticated investors want metrics that go deeper than reported earnings so they can get a truer picture of cash flows and hold companies accountable for capital allocation.

by Sam McBride

February 8, 20180Comments

Tax Reform Losers: Companies with Deferred Tax Assets

Most public companies should benefit from the new tax law but some of the biggest losers will be companies with large deferred tax assets (DTAs).

by Sam McBride

January 31, 20180Comments

Tax Reform Winners: Companies with Deferred Tax Liabilities

Most public companies should benefit from the new tax law and some of the biggest winners will be companies with large deferred tax liabilities (DTLs).

by Sam McBride

January 11, 20182Comments

Only One Sector Has Experienced A True Earnings Recovery

Accounting earnings may have rebounded from 2015 lows, but economic earnings—which reverse accounting distortions and account for the weighted average cost of capital (WACC)—remain in a persistent downturn.

by Sam McBride

November 21, 20170Comments

Follow up to Morningstar: Questions Remain

We appreciate Morningstar (MORN) taking the time to answer our article. Rather than go point by point through Morningstar’s rebuttal, we just want to follow up with a few unanswered questions.

by Sam McBride

November 2, 20170Comments

Morningstar’s Dominance: The Good, Bad and the Ugly

Investors and advisors deserve other, independent sources of research that go beyond Morningstar’s backward-looking methodology.

by Sam McBride

October 5, 20171Comments

Big Banks Will Win the Fintech Revolution

Large incumbent financial firms will continue to control the bulk of the value in the industry, but the structure of the value chain and the way these firms compete will change drastically.

by Sam McBride

September 7, 20170Comments

The Earnings Recovery Remains an Illusion

Our analysis of the latest 10-K and 10-Q filings for the S&P 500 shows that the GAAP earnings growth in the market has not translated to an increase in economic earnings.

by Sam McBride

July 17, 20170Comments

Why Robo-Analysts, Not Robo-Advisors, Will Transform Investing

Robo-advisors and Robo-Analysts are both important to enabling wealth management firms to cut costs without sacrificing quality of advice, but the importance of a Robo-Analyst to enhance the quality of investment advice shouldn’t be underestimated.

by David Trainer, Founder & CEO

July 13, 20170Comments

Hidden Trigger For Another (Flash) Crash: Passive Investing

When the investment process makes no effort to differentiate winners from losers, there is no diligence, no intelligent capital allocation, and, eventually, no efficient market.

by Kyle Guske II, Senior Investment Analyst, MBA

June 27, 20170Comments

Value Investing Is Not Dead, But It Is Harder

We think today’s market is the best in many years for value investors, the real value investors, that is. The real value investors analyze footnotes and balance sheets in addition to income statements.

by Sam McBride

June 14, 20170Comments

The Fed Can’t Wish Inflation Into Existence

Even with inflation running below target, the Fed chose to raise interest rates again. The Fed’s influence is overstated, but it’s still troubling that major policymakers are acting on such an outdated view of the economy.

by Sam McBride

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