Dear investor,

Markets lost a little steam this week, as the S&P 500 posted its first weekly decline in four weeks. The Dow Industrials Index saw its worst week since October. Meanwhile, the NASDAQ finished off another winning week, as Broadcom soared into the $1 trillion market cap range after reporting strong earnings. Next week markets will await The Fed’s decision on rate cuts, with expectations all but certain another cut is coming. After that, with the holidays approaching, markets could see a lull in volume.

That said, between tariffs, tank-sized drones, and persistent unrest in the Middle East, markets could get a shock from a variety of sources. Now is not the time to slack off on doing your diligence on your portfolio. Make sure you know what you own whether it’s a single stock, an option, an ETF or a mutual fund.

Until we see some pullback in some of the most overvalued stocks (meme stocks anyone?), we remain skeptical of the overall market at these record highs. Finding value today takes more work than ever. Don’t let anyone try to convince you otherwise.

This week we brought to clients’ attention a company that has moved out of the ranks of Zombie status. But even though it’s not a Zombie Stock anymore, it remains very dangerous.

Next week, we have multiple training sessions. Up first, The AI Powered Edge: Your 2025 Investment Roadmap, on Tuesday December 17. Then, on Thursday December 19, we’re hosting another Let’s Talk Long Ideas, an exclusive session with Pro and higher members.  

If you haven’t seen it yet, be sure to check out Bloomberg’s article, Unlocking concealed value in company financials with earnings capture, which details how Bloomberg uses our proprietary Core Earnings data to create value.

On the Model Portfolio front, we published the latest Exec Comp Aligned with ROIC Model Portfolio and also featured a stock in our Dividend Growth Model Portfolio.

Links to all our newly published research are below along with a preview for next week’s research.  

We hope you have a great weekend.

Danger Zone: Not A Zombie – But Still Very Dangerous

Members can read the latest Danger Zone report.

Check out Value Spotlight!

We recommend you watch the excellent tutorials from Value Spotlight and follow @ifb_podcast. They do great research and offer excellent insights. Rigorous investors only – haha. Their latest tutorial focuses on one of our favorite topics: Aligning Executive Compensation with ROIC.

Join us: Let’s Talk Long Ideas – November 12th at 5pm ET

For Pro and Institutional members only – registration details here.   

Exec Comp Aligned with ROIC Model Portfolio Update for December

Bloomberg Features our Core Earnings Leaders Index

Featured Stock in our Dividend Growth Model Portfolio

Upcoming Research

Coverage Updates

  • 190: 10-Qs parsed since Dec 1.
  • 44: 10-Ks parsed since Dec 1.
  • 129 stocks, ETFs & mutual funds added to our coverage universe over the last 3 months.