“Extreme Value” World Dominating Business for October

by Travis Johnson, Stock Gumshoe | October 7, 2010 10:10 am

Today’s tease didn’t come to me directly and I haven’t seen the original ad or letter where it appeared, but this excerpt was forwarded by a large number of folks who appear to have some interest in a good ‘ol blue chip-type investment.

The tease must have been in some kind of subscribers-only letter for the Stansberry folks or one of their affiliates, since it’s for the Extreme Value[1] newsletter that’s edited by Dan Ferris[2]. I have invested in a few teased Ferris ideas in the past, and I generally have a “value” bent when I’m looking at a company for my personal portfolio, so I’m always interested to see what he’s recommending. This appears to be a new pick of his, so let’s dig in:

“In the October issue of Extreme Value, due out today, I’m recommending a World Dominating business that’s selling at a free-cash-flow yield over enterprise value of just a hair less than 10%. It gets 70% of its revenues from products that are either No. 1 or 2 in their markets. It has the No. 1 product in 21 distinct global product categories. It gushes free cash flow, almost $16 billion of it last year. It can borrow money at 2.95% because it’s one of a handful of triple-A rated companies left. It’s got $18 billion in cash and $13 billion in debt, a rock solid financial condition.”

So … perhaps not that tough a stock to suss out, eh? He’s right about there being only a handful of AAA companies left, and, depending on which ratings agency you’re talking about, that also assumes you’ve had at least a mild chainsaw accident and are down to four fingers. He doesn’t even have to tell us the sector to sniff this one out, but he does provide a few more clues:

“Profit margins are consistently thick, with gross profit margins of 70% and net profit margins of 20%. It’s one of the greatest income investments of all-time, having raised its dividend 48 years in a row and at a rate of 13.48% per year over the last 10 years. Investors worry about big companies growing, but 25% of this company’s sales are from products less than five years old. And 50% of its sales are outside the U.S., so it has excellent exposure to more rapidly growing economies of other countries.”

So who is it? Well, I can pretty much guarantee that even if Dan and I acted in unison and urged everyone we know to climb all over the stock, we wouldn’t move the shares one iota … this is one of the bluest of the blue chips and the mega-est of the megacaps, this must be Johnson and Johnson (JNJ)[3]

And if you’re looking for arguments against a JNJ investment, they’re hard to find — the main one is the current bad news flow about recalls of a few OTC pharmaceuticals (children’s medicines and Motrin, I think), which is probably a large part of the reason why the shares are looking pretty cheap (though lots of the blue chippers look pretty cheap right now), and the shares are probably also depressed a bit because of their proposed $2.4 billion acquisition of the rest of Crucell (though there’s a good strategic reason for that acquisition to bolster their vaccine business, and they can pay $2.4 billion and still not have any net debt on their balance sheet if they wish).

It’s worth noting that although Johnson and Johnson is now a pretty nice dividend pick, it has spent much of its life as a growing fortress that was priced as the growth gem it was, with stable and solid returns, an increasingly diversified product mix, and a relatively low (but consistently growing) dividend. Ten years ago JNJ traded for 30X earnings and more than 20X cash flow, and today it’s about 13X earnings and 10X cash flow (the five-year average PE ratio is about 16). Over the past five years the stock has peaked right around $70 a couple times, and fallen below $50 briefly (during the market crash), but has generally traded in the low-$60s most of the time, right where it is now.

The dividend has grown nicely over time, too — and yes, JNJ is one of the few stocks that has consistently increased the dividend every year for nearly 50 years, so it would take an incredible shock to make them disappoint investors by stopping those increases. JNJ is one of the poster children for dividend growth and compounding, if you bought shares ten years ago they would have probably yielded just a little more than 1%, but that dividend has more than tripled and, with compounding, would be giving you a yield on your original investment that probably approaches 10% by now (without compounding it would still be near 5%, the payout is $2.16 a year now and was only 64 cents in 2000).

So there you have it — I’ve seen comments from Ferris that indicate that he has trouble selling subscriptions to his newsletter when he touts boring dividend growth stocks that everyone has already heard of like this “World Dominator,” and I think we probably all know that this isn’t the “sizzle” that gets you excited and fires up the imagination about the new Ferrari you’ll buy or the beach house you’ll pay for with a bag full of cash earned by picking hot junior mining companies and biotechs … but we also all know that there’s a downside to gambling[4] (that “losing” part), and that boring stocks with growing dividends[5] and solid, almost unassailable businesses should probably form the foundation of most portfolios.

That’s not to say JNJ is the perfect stock for everyone, of course — the recalls and the quality control issues at one of their plants, and the political backlash for the way they handled those recalls, might turn out to be bigger issues than I think they are (those recalls are apparently hitting revenue for at least last quarter and this quarter, it appears, but absent some bigger news that I haven’t seen I’m not particularly concerned), and their high margins and growth rely on medical devices and pharmaceuticals, so they face some of the same risks as other big pharma and device companies. That means concerns about maintaining a good pipeline of new products, watching for quality or safety issues, competing with other devices (our knee is better than your knee!), and replacing income lost when drugs go off patent (though they don’t have a particularly frightening patent expiration problem compared to most big pharma companies). If you’re looking at widely diversified healthcare[6] companies another pretty similar option is Novartis (NVS)[7], a stock I have liked and owned over the years (I don’t own it now, nor do I own JNJ stock).

But like I said, you’ve almost certainly heard of Johnson and Johnson — and if you have an index fund you own a pretty nice chunk of it already (JNJ makes up about 1.6% of the S&P and 4.3% of the Dow Jones Industrial Average), so perhaps you’ve got an opinion on the shares — wanna buy JNJ and hope for a few more decades of fabulous compounding from a mega cap company? Think it’s too big or too boring, or see more risk than the price indicates? Let us know with a comment below.

And if you’ve ever subscribed to Extreme Value, click here to let us know what you thought with a brief review [8]— we have a few reviews on file[9], but haven’t heard anything from new reviewers over the last six months or so. Thanks!

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Endnotes:
  1. Extreme Value: https://www.stockgumshoe.com/tag/extreme-value/
  2. Dan Ferris: https://www.stockgumshoe.com/tag/dan-ferris/
  3. Johnson and Johnson (JNJ): https://www.stockgumshoe.com/tag/jnj/
  4. gambling: https://www.stockgumshoe.com/tag/gambling/
  5. dividends: https://www.stockgumshoe.com/tag/dividends/
  6. healthcare: https://www.stockgumshoe.com/tag/healthcare/
  7. Novartis (NVS): https://www.stockgumshoe.com/tag/nvs/
  8. subscribed to Extreme Value, click here to let us know what you thought with a brief review : http://www.stockgumshoe.com/reviews/extreme-value/#respond
  9. few reviews on file: http://www.stockgumshoe.com/reviews/extreme-value

Source URL: https://www.stockgumshoe.com/reviews/extreme-value/extreme-value-world-dominating-business-for-october/


14 responses to ““Extreme Value” World Dominating Business for October”

  1. dmg says:

    I appreciate your articles; I especially appreciate your insights after you reveal the company. But I think JNJ gets off easy here. The company, for decades my poster child for ideal long term growth story, has done more wrong than mere "quality control issues." Its executives have lied, cheated, and defrauded the public — FDA, consumers, and shareholders. And to think that the company was renowned for its executive talent… this marks not merely of an ephemeral low, but depths of deceit.

    I will no longer own JNJ — have, in fact, sold all my shares — until the executive team is cleaned out. And not just one scapegoat, but the lot of them. The damage JNJ has done is systemic: to its company culture, its veracity, its relationships with all constituencies, and an utter loss of goodwill. At least, my goodwill toward them.

    It matters to me not at all whether the stock cruises to new all time highs, or how many times they raise the dividend. Something rotten is afoot in Denmark. (How is that for mixing literary metaphors? 🙂

  2. Fabien says:

    When I see how this co. is recently touted, pushed, advertised in letters and blogs, I really wonder what value you can attach to their reputation. My opinion is $ 0. Nobody cares anymore and people buy a particular brand but don't know who makes it. I personally never check. The small risk lies with lawsuits and some institutional may switch to safer names. But lawsuits against big corp nowadays….
    I will not buy this stock because everybody is saying this is the deal of the century.

  3. Tom says:

    Gumshoe,

    What do you know about the Penny Stock Prophet? Is he for real or is he a prime example of pump, dump and hype?

    Thank you,

    Tom

  4. Bigg Fredd says:

    Hype, anyway. As SG has pointed out, it doesn't take much buying to move the price up on a promoted micro-cap stock.

  5. caadfael says:

    AFC Energy, the future, NOW!!!

  6. wymandl says:

    Do you know what the other “World Dominator” picks by Ferris are? I don’t find Hulbert performance ratings on his Extreme Value newsletter. Is there value in his picks or is it hype?

  7. mse77 says:

    Travis, you’re correct with the list. He has recently touted for Microsoft, Medtronics as well.

  8. Bill Moore says:

    Anybody know the “small refiner in New Mexico ” that uses WTI as feedstock? Apparently
    near the Four Corners area. Thanks.
    Bil Moore

  9. Bill Moore says:

    “Small refiner in New Mexico” is a teaser from Money Map Press

  10. Doug Asbury says:

    Bill, there are two companies that have refineries in New Mexico: HollyFrontier, with a refinery in Artesia, NM, near the Texas border; and Western Refinery, with a refinery in Gallup, NM, which is near the Arizona border, though somewhat south of the four-corners area. Western is probably the one to which MMP is referring. They’ve also got a refined products terminal in Bloomfield, NM, which is near Farmington, closer to the four-corners area.
    Here’s the first paragraph of their 2nd quarter 2011 results press release to support the idea that this is the company you’re looking for:
    “Western Refining, Inc. (NYSE:WNR) today reported net income for the second quarter ended June 30, 2011 of $100.1 million, or $1.10 per basic share and $0.94 per diluted share, compared to second quarter 2010 net income of $14.4 million, or $0.16 per basic and diluted share. The improved results for the quarter were due to stronger refining margins, which were primarily the result of the continued price advantage of WTI crude oil as compared to Brent and other water-borne crude oils.”

  11. Stansberry CS says:

    If you have any questions about Stansberry and Associates, please do not hesitate to call customer service at 1-888-261-2693. We would be happy to assist you. We are open Monday – Friday 9-5 EST.

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