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Stock Pick of the Week: Akamai Technologies Inc (AKAM) – Very Dangerous Rating

RED FLAGS: 1. Misleading Earnings: AKAM reported a $1mm increase in GAAP earnings while our model shows economic earnings declined by $10mm (a difference of $11mm or 7% of reported net income). 2. Very Dangerous Valuation: Stock price of $47 implies AKAM must grow its NOPAT at over 20% com¬pounded annu¬ally for 15 years. A 15-year growth appreciation period with a 20%+ compounding growth rate sets expectations for future cash flow performance quite high. 3. Asset write-offs of $2,000mm or 102% of Net Assets – this means that management has written off at least $1 of assets for every $1 on the current balance sheet. Writing off assets is the opposite of creating shareholder value as it reflects management’s inability to derive any profits for the investments it makes with shareholder funds. 4. Off-balance sheet debt of $128mm or 7% of Net Assets. 5. Outstanding Stock Option Liability of $212mm or 3% of current market value.
by David Trainer, Founder & CEO
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Small Cap Stocks Are Dangerous

The Risk/Reward of the entire Russell 2000 gets our Dangerous Rating. Our recently published Index Benchmark report on the Russell 2000 offers unique insights into the underlying profitability and valuation of all the companies comprised by this index. It also offers benchmarks for (1) investors considering buying ETFs or Index Funds based on the Russell 2000 and for (2) comparing individual stocks to the Russell 2000.
by David Trainer, Founder & CEO
New Constructs
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Stock Pick of the Week: Buy Colgate-Palmolive Co (CL) – Very Attractive Rating

HIDDEN GEMS: 1. About $250 million in non-operating expenses (after-tax) cause reported earnings to be understated during the last fiscal year. 2. Our discounted cash flow analysis shows that CL’s current valuation (stock price of $77.52) implies that the company’s profits will decline by 7% and never grow again. 3. The company grew its economic earnings by $229mm (14% increase) during its last fiscal year.
by David Trainer, Founder & CEO
New Constructs
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Stock Pick of the Week: Short Rackspace Hosting Inc (RAX) – Ignore the Takeover Hype

RED FLAGS: 1. Mis­lead­ing Earn­ings: RAX reported a $30mm increase in GAAP earn­ings while our model shows eco­nomic earn­ings declined by $13mm (a dif­fer­ence of $43mm or 7% of rev­enue). 2. Very Dan­ger­ous Val­u­a­tion: Stock price of $25.636 implies RAX must grow its NOPAT at 25% com­pounded annu­ally for 17 years. A 17-year Growth Appre­ci­a­tion Period with a 25% com­pound­ing growth rate is quite a high stan­dard to beat, as per my post on How To Make Money Pick­ing Stocks. 3. Outstanding Stock Option Liability of $205mm or 6.5% of current market value
by David Trainer, Founder & CEO
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Stock Pick of the Week: Buy Bristol Myers Squibb Co (BMY) – Very Attractive Rating

HIDDEN GEMS: 1. Our dis­counted cash flow analy­sis shows that BMY’s cur­rent val­u­a­tion (stock price of $27.16) implies that the company’s prof­its will decline by 35% and never grow again. 2. The com­pany grew its eco­nomic earn­ings by $307.5mm (12% increase) dur­ing its last fis­cal year. 3. The com­pany has $9,507mm in Excess Cash, which we remove from our Invested Cap­i­tal cal­cu­la­tion. $9,507mm mil­lion is more than 20% of BMY’s market cap.
by David Trainer, Founder & CEO
New Constructs
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Stock Pick of the Week: Sell/Short CB Richard Ellis Group, Inc. (CBG) — Very Dangerous Rating

RED FLAGS: Mis­lead­ing Earn­ings: CBG reported a $1,045mm increase in GAAP earn­ings while our model shows eco­nomic earn­ings declined by $358mm. Very Dan­ger­ous Val­u­a­tion: Stock price of $19.06 implies CBG must grow its NOPAT at 20% com­pounded annu­ally for 15 years. Has any company ever done that, much less a commercial real estate company?
by David Trainer, Founder & CEO
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Stock Pick of the Week: Buy Schiff Nutrition Intl (WNI) — Very Attractive Rating – Small Cap Special

HIDDEN GEMS: 1. Our dis­counted cash flow analy­sis shows that WNI’s cur­rent val­u­a­tion (stock price of $7.89) implies that the company’s prof­its will decline by 25% and never grow again. 2. The com­pany grew its economic earnings more than its reported earnings. Economic earnings rose by $9.1mm (506% increase) while Net Income rose by only $8.1mm (79% increase) during its last fiscal year. 3. The com­pany has $42mm in Excess Cash, which we remove from our Invested Cap­i­tal cal­cu­la­tion. $42 mil­lion is 20% of WNI’s mar­ket cap.
by David Trainer, Founder & CEO
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Rite Aid Corp (RAD) — Dangerous Rating, free report for Ask Matt Readerss

Rite Aid Corp (RAD) gets a Dan­ger­ous Rat­ing because of these RED FLAGs: 1. Very Expen­sive val­u­a­tion: cur­rent stock price implies the com­pany will grow revenues and NOPAT at 6% com­pounded annu­ally for the next 15 years while also more than doubling ROIC from 6.1% to 13.7% within the same time frame. 2. Off Balance-Sheet debt: of $5,502mm or 93% of "Reported" Net Assets 3. Asset-write-offs: $3,417mm or 58% of "Reported" Net Assets
by David Trainer, Founder & CEO
New Constructs
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Buy MSFT: Goldman Downgrade Presents Opportunity

We reiterate our pick for last week's Stock Pick of the Week: Buy Microsoft Corp (MSFT) — Very Attractive Rating. We consider the recent downgrade from Goldman an investment-banking driven head fake. Because MSFT is not a good investment banking client (very little merger or stock offering activity), investment banks have little to lose by downgrading or putting a sell rating on the this stock.
by David Trainer, Founder & CEO
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Drugstore.com Inc (DSCM) — Dangerous Rating, free report for Ask Matt Readers

Drugstore.com (DSCM) gets a Dan­ger­ous Rat­ing because of these RED FLAGs: 1. Very Expen­sive val­u­a­tion: cur­rent stock price implies the com­pany will grow rev­enues at 20% com­pounded annu­ally for the next 15 years while also improv­ing ROIC from –2.3% to 10.9% within the same time frame. 2. Off Balance-Sheet debt: of $15mm or 15% of Net Assets 3. Asset-write-offs: $210mm or 206% of Net Assets
by David Trainer, Founder & CEO
New Constructs
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Stock Pick of the Week: Buy Microsoft Corp (MSFT) — Very Attractive Rating

HIDDEN GEMS: 1. Our dis­counted cash flow analy­sis shows that MSFT’s cur­rent val­u­a­tion (stock price of $24.73) implies that the company’s prof­its will decline by 20% and never grow again. 2. The company has $43,292mm in Excess Cash (over 20% of the market cap), which we remove from our Invested Capital calculation and which helps drive a whopping 61.6% ROIC. 3. Our eco­nomic earn­ings mod­els shows prof­its are grow­ing, not declin­ing, which makes the Risk/Reward for MSFT Very Attractive.
by David Trainer, Founder & CEO
New Constructs
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Stock Pick of the Week: Sell/Short CBS Class B (CBS) Very Dangerous Rating

CBS’s get our Very Dan­ger­ous Rating. There is lots of down­side risk given the Mis­lead­ing Earn­ings and there is lit­tle upside reward given the already-rich expec­ta­tions embed­ded in the stock price. RED FLAGS: 1. Mis­lead­ing Earn­ings: CBS reported a $11,899mm increase in GAAP earn­ings while our model shows eco­nomic earn­ings declined by $548mm. 2. Underfunded Pensions of $2,239mm (20% of market value) 3. Asset-write-offs of $10,559mm in asset write-offs (50% of Net Assets and nearly 100% of the market value) 4. High Valuation: market price implies CBS must grow its revenue at 10% com­pounded annu­ally for 23 years and increase its ROIC from 2.4% to 6% over the same time frame.
by David Trainer, Founder & CEO
New Constructs
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icad Inc (ICAD) — free report for Ask Matt, Dangerous Rating

icad (ICAD) gets a Dan­ger­ous Rat­ing because of these RED FLAGs: 1. Very Expensive valuation: current stock price implies the company will grow revenues at 20% compounded annually for the next 10 years while also improving ROIC from -3.7% to 1.5% within the same time frame. 2. Option Liabilities: of $2.1mm or 3% of the current market value 3. Asset-write-offs: $4.4mm or 7% of Net Assets
by David Trainer, Founder & CEO