A Lot of Bullet Points That Add Up to Stocks Being Higher by Year-End

Summary Points:

• Continuing to assess stock market outlook – balance still positive
• Recent pullback in stock prices has been moderate on low volume

Discussion

The Donaldson Capital Management Investment Policy Committee continued our review of economic data and forecasts for the year. While the economic headwinds are much in the news, it is our experience that positive events get less play in the media than negative ones. To try to identify an appropriate balance, while recognizing that items listed are not all equal in impact, we built our own list of significant headwinds and tailwinds.

 Headwinds

• QE 2 ends this month.
• The May new jobs number came in way below trend.
• The European Economic Community has not yet solved the Greece problem.
• Consensus 2011 global GDP growth expectations have dropped 0.5% or so.
• National average house prices are still dropping.
• The unemployment and “functionally unemployed” rates have ticked higher.
• State and local governments are still eliminating jobs.
• Savings rates are high, potentially reducing consumer spending.
• Gas prices are ~$1/gal. higher than a year ago.
• Congress has not passed a solution to the Deficit and Debt problems.
• Regulatory uncertainty exists in regards to: health care, taxes, and banking.
• 3/11 Tsunami had bigger effect on supply chains than was previously thought.

Tailwinds

• Reported corporate profits remain strong.
• Estimates for 2011 corporate profits have held, despite economic headwinds.
• GDP growth outside the U.S. and Europe remains robust.
• Capital asset purchases (e.g. trucks, cars) are recovering significantly.
• Banks are seeing a slowing of defaults on mortgages and credit card debt.
• The weaker U. S. dollar is boosting U. S. exports.
• A debt default by the U.S. is seen as very unlikely by most economists we follow.
• Stock values (price/earnings) are now lower than the 80-year average. No bubble
• About 50% of S&P 500 sales come from faster growing, non-US economies.
• Crude oil and gasoline prices are dropping from recent highs.

The Committee also reviewed a discussion by The Bank Credit Analyst of the US economic outlook. BCA is a Canadian firm (which we believe gives them objectivity about the U.S.) that we’ve followed for many years. Their analyses are well reasoned; they do not rant or get emotional; and, they use data to develop and explain their views. A synopsis of their June 8 presentation follows:

• US growth will accelerate later this year.
• Tsunami-related supply chain problems are easing.
• The savings rate is high, but slowly dropping, benefiting consumer purchases later.
• Housing is too low to sink much further, reducing its drag on the economy.
• US structural deficits are only about 5% of GDP, more manageable than many think.
• The US tax/GDP ratio is the lowest in G-20, encouraging economic growth.
• The US has added more than 1.3 million net new jobs over the past year.

The Committee was concerned about the Fed’s recent lobbying for the 35 largest banks to raise their Tier 1 capital levels from 7% to 10%. This will continue to put pressure on bank stocks in the near term because of the potential dilutive effects of big equity underwritings. So far, this is still in the talking stage, and the banking industry is pushing back very hard. It remains to be seen how this will play out, but for the moment it has already been priced into the stocks, so any softening of the Fed’s position should provide a quick lift to the banks.

Although industrial stocks have dropped more than the S&P 500 lately, most industrial companies continue to have very bullish outlooks for 2011. CEO Sandy Cutler of Eaton Corp (ETN), for instance, is very confident his firm will see 14% revenue growth with earnings growth much higher than that. Many of Eaton’s customers delayed purchases of expensive capital goods during the recession, but these customers are now back in the market because the average age of their equipment has reached multiyear highs, causing repair costs to jump. This same dynamic is playing out across the spectrum of a number of industries.

Unemployment remains stubborn. Historically, however, the correlation between increased corporate profits and increased employment is very tight. The two trends separated during the recession. However, the average work week, especially in the industrial sector, has extended to the point where more overtime just may not be possible. The longer corporate sales volumes and profits grow, the more pressure there will be for businesses to increase hiring.

While major new negative developments in the Middle East, a major economic slowdown in China, or a fiasco on the debt limit in Washington D.C. could turn the 2011 outlook decidedly negative, we don’t consider any of them as having a high probability at this time. Our views are echoed by the economists and strategists that we follow. The market pullback over the past six weeks – the first six-consecutive week pullback in 10 years – has been relatively modest, less than 5%. Finally, trading volumes have been relatively light, potentially indicating there is not a lot of urgency in the selling.

After considering all the above, the Committee is holding to its outlook for stocks to return 5% - 10% for all of 2011. Of course, we will continue to monitor the data and the economic and political environments.

Edited by Randy Alsman

Greg Donaldson Mike Hull Rick Roop Randy Alsman

We own many industrial stocks including Eaton.

If Analyst Estimates Are Correct, Stocks Are a Buy!

A year ago the stock market fell into a deep swoon buffeted by troubles in Greece, worries about a double-dip in the US economy, and the prognostications by many analysts that the Federal Reserve was powerless to stimulate growth.

The red line on the chart at the right shows that in 2010 the S&P 500 fell from about 1250 in April to under 1050 in June, nearly a 20% plunge.

Reading the headlines today and watching the recent activity in the stock market, one gets the feeling that we've seen this movie before. Greece is still in danger of default; economic growth in the US slowed to 1.8% in the first quarter; and the Fed has just announced that QE2 will end at the end of June.  So the obvious question is, "Are stocks headed for another 20% correction?"

We don't think so and we believe the above chart provides the best argument against a big sell off.  We explain ad nauseum that what stocks are doing in June has little correlation to what they will do for the full year.  The chart shows that stocks reversed their 2010 April-June tailspin and recovered to close over 15% higher on the year.  Those investors who sold out in the midst of all the negative blab in summer missed a terrific year for stocks.

Was there any signal last summer that told us that the stock market swoon was just noise?  Yes, analysts earnings estimates for year-end 2010 for the S&P 500, as shown by the black dashed line, never dipped.  Indeed, for most of the summer the analysts were hiking S&P 500 earnings in the face of falling stock prices.  Looking closer, the chart reveals that analysts started the year estimating that S&P 500 earnings (left scale) for the year would be about $77.  They actually ended the year at about $85.

Another clue that stocks, and for that matter the economy, were not headed for a double dip was the fact that actual reported earnings, as shown by the blue stair-step line, were moving sharply higher.

Obviously we could not have seen year-end earnings in mid 2010, but earnings in the first and second quarters were strongly and surprisingly higher.  It was clear by early July that a big earnings rebound was underway.

So where do we stand today, and what are the analysts forecasting for year-end 2011 S&P 500 earnings?  The chart at the right shows the 2011 data discussed in the first chart.

In short, the picture for mid-June 2011 is similar to mid-June 2010.  Stocks (red line) are selling off, while actual earnings (blue line), and analysts' year-end earnings estimates (black dashes) are continuing to rise.

In our judgment, the key component in this chart and in the ultimate direction of stocks is the trend of the analysts' earnings for year-end 2011.  They have risen throughout 2011 and are still trending higher.  The analysts are in close communications with the companies they cover, and if they were hearing bad news from the companies their earnings estimates would be already headed down.  We see little evidence of weakening earnings estimates among the companies we hold.

We will continue to report on the analysts' estimates for 2011 in future blogs.

This is a good time to remind our readers that we invest in global companies and not just the US economy.  Our companies produce over 60% of their earnings outside the US, with much of it coming from the fastest growing nations in the world.  We as Americans still have great difficulty conceptualizing that the US now represents only 25% of world GDP.  The global economy has become a very big place, and we no longer dominate the world's economic growth like we once did.  The good news is the world economy is growing much faster than that of the US.

If corporate earnings continue to be strong, as we believe they will, we envision that stock market activity in 2011 might turn out to be a movie that we have seen before -- down in the summer, up by year-end.

Becton Dickinson: Another Undervalued Stock on the Move

As I promised last time, I am showing our Dividend Valuation Model for Becton Dickinson (BDX).  BDX is the second highest ranked stock in our universe behind United Technologies (UTX) in a combination of predictability, valuation, and momentum.

The chart at the right shows the actual prices of BDX in red compared to our model's annual predictions over the last 20 years in blue.

BDX is a global medical technology company engaged in the manufacture and sale of a wide range of medical devices and instruments used by many sectors of the health-care industry. 

The Dividend Valuation Chart shows a tight fit between BDX and the valuation bars.  The R-squared is .94. 

BDX has one of the best long-term earnings and dividend growth records of any company we follow.

1. Dividends have grown by nearly 13% per annum over the last 20 years. 
2. Earnings have grown by nearly 12% per year.
3. Over the last three years dividends and earnings have grown at 13.7% and 11.4%, respectively.
4. Wall Street is estimating that 3-5 year earnings will grow at nearly 10%.
5. The model is suggesting that based on next years estimates the stock is undervalued by nearly 14%.

A company with such a high R-squared at BDX seldom gives table-pounding buy signals.  The chart clearly shows that BDX's price has pretty much run along the tops of it annual valuation bars, but it is now buried in undervalued territory.

Health-care stocks have underperformed the S&P 500 over the last two years.  In recent weeks, however, they have perked up as investors have moved to a more defensive posture.  We would not be surprised to see BDX move higher in part because it has one of the highest expected dividend and earnings growth profiles of any stock in the health-care sector.  In short it is a standout company in a battered industry.


We own BDX in our Capital Builder investment style. Do not use this blog for investment advice.  Please consult your own investment professional for his or her analysis of the company.

Next time Johnson and Johnson (JNJ).

Dividend Valuation Model: United Technology Is #1

Dividends play two important roles in our stock selection process.  1) They produce a cash return that has represented nearly 40% of the total return of the S&P 500 Index over the last 80 years. 2)  For select companies, dividend growth and changes in interest rates provide an excellent valuation tool.

Each week we run all the stocks in the Russell 1000 through our Dividend Valuation model.   The model does two important things for us.  Statistically, it tells us how good it has been in predicting movements in each stock over the last 20 years, and it provides us with a single formula that has produced the best fit of prices versus dividends and interest rates.

At this point in the process, we can easily identify which stocks are most "predictable."  Next we make a projection of the dividend growth for each company and estimate changes in interest rates for the coming year.  With this information, the model can now tell us which stocks are most undervalued.  Finally, we run all stocks through a multi-period momentum filter.  This tells us which stocks have what we call "sponsorship," meaning which companies are performing at least as well as the average stock over four different time frames..

This may sound complex, and the process is, but the result is very simple.  We have identified the companies that are most predictable, most undervalued, and have the best sponsorship, or momentum.

We then assign a rank between 1 and 100 for each of the three metrics for each company.  Summing the ranks for predictability, valuation, and sponsorship, we can identify the company with the highest overall total rank in  the Russell 1000 and the also among the companies we own.

Using this process, of calculating predictability, valuation, and sponsorship, we can determine those stocks with the best prospect for the year ahead

 A look at the model as of Friday reveals that the stock we own with the best overall score is United Technology (UTX).  As shown above, the model (blue line) for UTX has been very tightly associated with UTX's actual price (red line) over the last 20 years.  The R-squared is .94.  The models suggests that UTX is undervalued by about 12%, including dividend. UTX's sponsorship or momentum score is 67, which means that it has outperformed 67% of all stocks over four time frames, from 12 months to one month.  Importantly it is outperforming 74% of all stocks over the last three months.  UTX recently hiked it dividend 13%, which is about in line with the company's dividend actions over the last ten years.  Finally, earnings were recently reported as having grown 19% in the first quarter versus a year ago.  That provides a nice cushion for future dividend hikes.

There are a handful of stocks with better scores than UTX.  Our strategists are researching them.  We'll report later if any of them meet our standards.

The stock with the second highest score in our model is Becton Dickinson (BDX).  We will report on it next time.

The investment world has definitely discovered dividends.  We have not seen this kind of attention being paid to dividend investing in our own 20 years of a dividend-centric approach.  Because dividends have become so popular, we are turning our focus to valuation in our blogs for a while.  We have learned the hard way too many times that just because a company pays a dividend, or has increased its dividend for 20 or 30 years in a row does not mean that it is fairly priced.  Indeed, we see many companies with long dividend-paying track records that have already priced in the next two years of dividend growth.

If you have specific dividend-paying companies that you would like for us to review, please add a comment to this blog.  We'll get to as many as we can.    

Sell in May And Go Away . . . . At Your Own Risk

Because stocks have had solid double-digit gains over the last 12 months, we hear many people predicting that they are ready for a fall.  In addition, the "Sell in May and Go Away" crowd is giving us all the statistics of how stocks have fared between May and November historically.

The reasons given for a stock sell off are full of language about momentum, price gains, and too much-too soon. We want to add very quickly that few of the "stocks are too high" crowd today were among the "stocks are too low" crowd  at the market bottom in March of 2009.  Indeed, if you go back to their blogs and read what they were saying around the bottom of the market, you will find many of them were saying "stocks are too high," even then.

In the blizzard of words we see written about the stock market, we seldom see the word valuation.  Valuation, it would seem, has no meaning in a high-octane traders' market, where computers are trading with computers for about 70% of the daily volume.  Individual investors seem to have decided that long-term value investing has gone the way of the Oldsmobile.

Ah, but we beg to differ!   In the long-run, valuation will rule just like it always has.The reason is over the last 80 years, S&P stock prices are highly correlated to both After Tax Profits and Dividends.  The computers and traders will wage their daily battles of betting on zig or zag, but in the long-run, zigs and zags will ultimately be seen as vanity, a chasing after the wind.

From a valuation perspective, stocks are still cheap and could only become expensive if the economy were to fall off a cliff and drag earnings and dividends with it.  The chart below shows index of the S&P 500 (red line) compared to Total U.S. After Tax Profits Index (blue line).  Please note that After Tax Profits reached an all time high in December of 2010 and, based on S&P estimates, will rise by nearly 13% in the second quarter of 2011 versus the same quarter a year ago. Tracking the After Tax Profits Index is our favorite way of measuring earnings, because it measures only earnings that companies actually paid taxes on.  

The graph below vividly shows that while After Tax Profits have reached an all time high, the S&P 500 has not. In fact, the chart suggests that the S&P has a long way to go to reach fair value.

Corroborating the view that stocks are still undervalued is the graph of the S&P 500 Index (red line) compared to Total Corporate Dividends Index (blue line).  Total Corporate Dividends paid is an important indicator of the health of the current turn-around in the stock market, because dividends are paid in cash and not promises.  As the chart shows, dividends took a hit during the sub prime crisis.  Importantly the chart also shows that they have turned higher.  S&P is predicting that dividends will grow nearly 10% on a year over year basis for the first quarter of 2011.  Dividends have not reached a new high, but we believe the old record will be eclipsed over the next 12 months.  This would be good news for continued stock price gains.

These two simple, yet important measures of stock market valuations are still flashing green.  That does not mean that stocks will go straight up from here.  In our judgment, it does mean, however, that saying stocks are too high is nonsense, and "Sell in May and Go Away" is worse.

The Dollar's Slide: Terminal or Temporary?

We’ve had a number of clients write or call us lately concerned about the continuing weakness of the U.S. dollar. (It’s down about 10% since December against a basket of currencies.)  Here’s a representative example of their concerns:

“I feel the weak dollar (and growing weaker) is causing us problems and will cause greater problems if the world loses confidence in the US dollar as the world's monetary standard.  Oil is priced in $'s and the dollar's weakened position is costing US and world consumers.  When will the world say enough is enough and then what happens to the US economy?”

There is and old saying among economists that goes: “The solution to high prices is high prices.”  By this they mean that because of the law of supply and demand, higher prices tend to lead to lower demand.  Eventually, this lower demand will cause the sellers of the products to cut prices in order to regain the lost demand.  In this way, higher prices are self-correcting.

The dynamics of currency exchange rates are similar.  To a great extent, the problems tend to correct themselves over time.  As a quick primer, there are five major dynamics that have the most influence over the value of a country’s currency:

Interest Rates:  Holding everything else constant, higher interest rates for a given country relative to its trading partners would cause its currency to strengthen because the high rates would attract buyers.

Inflation:  Higher inflation in a country relative to its trading partners normally weakens its currency.

Balance of Trade: Shifts in a country’s balance of trade exert pressure on its currency.  Growing exports relative to imports strengthen its currency; weakening exports do just the opposite.

Budget Deficits:  Higher budget deficits as a percent of GDP weaken a country’s currency, while lower budget deficits strengthen its currency.

GDP: So long as a country’s inflation rate is muted, the higher the country’s GDP, the stronger will be its currency.

As with most aspects of investing, the expectations of how each of the above factors will behave in the future have as much impact on the value of the currency as their current levels.

This analysis, unfortunately, may produce as many questions as it answers, but such is the nature of discussing currencies.  Someone once said, “When it comes to currencies, everything affects everything.” Having said this, currency fluctuations are a daily concern for us because we own so many foreign based stocks.  Thus, based on our current holdings, we are keeping an eye on the Canadian dollar, the British pound, the Chinese yuan, the Swiss Franc, the Danish krone, and the euro.

Using the above five factors, let us offer a brief analysis of the most likely trend of the U.S. dollar over the next few years. 

• Short-term interest rates in the U.S. are among the lowest in the world.   However, when the current round of quantitative easing (QE2) ends in June, those rates should rise, at least a little.  Further, the Fed is expected to begin raising the Federal Funds Rate (FFR) – now at 0.0% - 0.25% by year end.  So, both ending QE2 and raising the FFR should lift the US$.
•  Core inflation in the U.S. is hovering around 1%, very low compared to our trading partners.  Thus, this is favorable for the dollar.  However, if inflation gets too high, the Fed will raise interest rates to fight it.  (Higher interest rates = stronger currency, part of that self-limiting mentioned above.)
• A cheap dollar makes U.S.-manufactured goods more competitive overseas, helping to boost U.S. exports.  Higher exports improve our balance of trade and GDP and should give a lift to the dollar.  This is a prime example of the self-correcting qualities of a weak dollar.  Ironically, however, a weak dollar means that the cost of imports rise, especially oil.  This puts upward pressure on inflation.  Are you getting the picture of the concept of “everything affects everything?"
• Budget deficits and high U.S. debt relative to GDP are the big killers right now for the value of the dollar.  Standard and Poors’ (S&P), in its recent change of outlook for US debt from stable to negative, said one of the reasons for the action was their belief that prospects for meaningful deficit reduction in the current political climate were low.  As you remember, the Dow Jones fell over 200 points for the day on that news, and S&P’s action jumped from the financial pages to the dinner table.  In doing so, S&P may have done us all a favor by turning up the heat on Washington to make progress on budget cutting.  S&P’s message was clear: clean up your financial house or face a downgrade of your bonds.  Downgrade or no, deficits will continue to play a role in the direction of the dollar.
• The United States GDP is the largest in the world, so that helps.   But it is not growing as fast as GDP in the developing countries of China, India, Brazil and other Asian countries.  Indeed, U.S. GDP is growing more slowly than the global average right now, which has somewhat of a weakening influence on the dollar. 

So there you have it. Combining all these factors and comparing them with similar data from our major trading partner nations is producing a negative demand for the US dollar against most other major currencies.

We believe the two primary drivers of the weak dollar are the negative attitudes by some about QE2 and the size and growth rate of the US budget deficit.  As you know, we have been in favor of QE2 because we believe it has provided needed stimulus for the economy and consumer confidence.  We also believe the Federal Reserve has the will and the power to terminate it without disrupting the markets.  Our view has been validated by the rising stock prices over the last six months; unfortunately our optimism has not been shared by the currency traders.  With QE2 coming to an end, it would seem some pressure on the dollar should abate.  

The problem with the budget deficit is too big to solve in the near term.  Indeed, it is exacerbated by the political divide in Washington.  Yet, the problem is too big to ignore any longer.

As we have evaluated the issues surrounding the weakness in the U.S. dollar, in many cases, we believe they are self-limiting or self-correcting.  However, as we said earlier, the biggest problem facing the dollar is the lack of confidence in Washington’s willingness to make the tough decisions to limit the growth of the U.S. debt.  In light of this, pressure on the dollar may continue.

This discussion of the dollar is not simply an answer to a client question.  We deal with currency decisions everyday.  Four years ago we concluded that the dollar was likely to trend lower.  That was even before, the huge increase in government debt.  We redirected our portfolios to benefit from a falling dollar.  At present, more than 60% of the revenues of the companies we own comes from outside the US. Not only are our companies more competitive as a result of the lower dollar, but when their foreign profits are converted back into dollars, they are higher than if they had been produced in the U.S.  Additionally, nearly 20% of our portfolio companies are domiciled outside the US.  With these companies we are benefiting not only from their growing earnings and dividends, but also from the currency translations.  As an example, one of our biggest holdings is Nestle (NSRGY).  A few years ago Nestle’s stock price in Switzerland ended the year flat.  Taking into consideration the currency translations from the falling dollar versus the Swiss franc, NSRGY made a total return of nearly 11%.

Next time we’ll take a swing at the U.S. dollar’s declining importance as the reserve currency of choice.

Written by:  Randy Alsman and Greg Donaldson

Principals and Clients of Donaldson Capital Management own Nestle.

So Far Municipal Finances Are Not As Bad As Feared

Analyst Meredith Whitney in December sent the municipal bond world into a hissy fit when she predicted that hundreds of billions of dollars of municipal bonds would default over the next year.  Early on we joined countless municipal experts in disagreeing with Ms. Whitney's prediction.

Governments of all stripes are groaning under their debt loads.  Unfortunately, some politicians seem less intent on balancing their budgets than saving the out-sized fringe benefits of government workers. Yet in spite of some cases of politics a usual, and . . . unusual as in the states of  Wisconsin and Indiana, where runaway legislators shut down the legislative process, progress is being made in almost all corners of the United States in getting costs in line with revenues.

In recent weeks many municipalities across the country have released their 2010 financial reports.  This gives us the opportunity to take a hard look at how our holdings are faring in these tough times.  Thus far almost all the municipalities we have studied have shown improved financial conditions over a year ago.  We own 574 tax-exempt bond issues so we have a ways to go, but there is another important indicator that gives us confidence that things are on the mend.  Of the 574 issues we own, none were downgraded by Standard and Poors or Moodys in the last six months.  Indeed, the ratings changed on only 12 issues and they all rose by at least one rating level.  With tax revenues ticking higher in most states and cost cutting grudgingly underway, we belive we will see a continuation of more rating hikes than cuts during the rest of the year.

We believe even more strongly than we did in December that Ms. Whitney will be wrong in her prediction of massive defaults among municipal bonds.  We now believe unless there are a few anarchists among the legislators of this country -- people who genuinely want municipalities to default -- that the defaults will be few.   

We'll keep you posted as we continue to study our holdings.

Blessings


We own lots of municipal bonds.