AkhenOsiris
Bloody recession

US ISM Services Index Sep: 54.9 (est 51.7; prev 51.5)
- Prices Paid: 59.4 (est 56.0; prev 57.3)
- Employment: 48.1 (est 50.0; prev 50.2)
- New Orders: 59.4 (est 52.5; prev 53.0) - LiveSquawk
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⁠Quiver Quantitative
Election betting is now legal in the United States.

Who do you think will be the first politician to bet on their own race? https://t.co/tgfqyKdDEz
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⁠Quiver Quantitative
Palantir stock hit an all-time high today.

We have only seen two politicians holding $PLTR:

Representative Suozzi (Homeland Security Committee)
Senator Hagerty (Foreign Relations Committee) https://t.co/ZVwJt3ruoG
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⁠Librarian Capital
"Home Depot: Rate Cuts Now Priced In, Downgrade to Neutral"

Shares are at a multi-year high after the Fed’s first rate cut in September, and investors may be too optimistic.

$HD $LOW $FERG
https://t.co/VL7H36d4jT https://t.co/qbROgbaAg1
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⁠Librarian Capital
Twitter vs. Threads: Comparing reach & audience quality with a poll

Poll: Will Elon Musk honour his promise to buy out Jack Dorsey TWTR stake at $54.20?

Twitter: 13k+ followers
1,610 views, 83 votes
82% no, 18% yes

Threads: 1.5k+ followers
393 views, 47 votes
98% no, 2% yes https://t.co/q1alV7yMND
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⁠Dimitry Nakhla | Babylon Capital®
RT @DimitryNakhla: A sober valuation analysis on $ELV 🧘🏽‍♂️

•NTM P/E Ratio: 12.90x
•5-Year Mean: 14.04x

•NTM FCF Yield: 6.15%
•5-Year Mean: 6.90%

As you can see, $ELV appears to be trading somewhere near fair value

Going forward, investors can expect to receive ~9% MORE in earnings per share & ~12% LESS in FCF per share🧠***

Before we get into valuation, let’s take a look at why $ELV is a quality business

BALANCE SHEET✅
•Cash & Equivalents: $6.50B
•Total Investments: $37.15B
•Long-Term Debt: $24.56B

$ELV has a strong balance sheet, an A S&P Credit Rating & 1.94x FFO Interest Coverage Ratio (temporarily lower FFO)

RETURN ON CAPITAL✅
•2019: 12.3%
•2020: 14.7%
•2021: 14.3%
•2022: 13.4%
•2023: 14.7%
•LTM: 14.1%

RETURN ON EQUITY✅
•2019: 16.0%
•2020: 14.1%
•2021: 17.7%
•2022: 16.3%
•2023: 15.8%
•LTM: 16.6%

$ELV has solid return metrics, highlighting the financial efficiency of the business

REVENUES✅
•2013: $71.02B
•2023: $171.34B
•CAGR: 9.20%

FREE CASH FLOW✅
•2013: $2.41B
•2023: $6.77B
•CAGR: 10.88%

NORMALIZED EPS✅
•2013: $8.52
•2023: $33.14
•CAGR: 14.54%

SHARE BUYBACKS✅
•2013 Shares Outstanding: 303.80M
•LTM Shares Outstanding: 234.95M

By reducing its shares outstanding ~22.6%, $ELV increases its EPS by ~29.1% (assuming 0 growth)

MARGINS🆗
•LTM Gross Margins: 9.4%
•LTM Operating Margins: 6.1%
•LTM Net Income Margins: 3.9%

PAID DIVIDENDS✅
•2013: $1.50
•2023: $5.92
•CAGR: 14.71%

***NOW TO VALUATION 🧠

As stated above, investors can expect to receive ~9% MORE in EPS & ~12% LESS in FCF per share

Using Benjamin Graham’s 2G rule of thumb, $ELV has to grow earnings at a 6.45% CAGR over the next several years to justify its valuation

Today, analysts anticipate 2024 - 2026 EPS growth over the next few years to be greater than the (6.45%) required growth rate:

2024E: $37.26 (12.4% YoY) *FY Dec
2025E: $41.70 (11.9% YoY)
2026E: $46.96 (12.6% YoY)

$ELV has a great track record of meeting analyst estimates ~2 years out, so let’s assume $ELV ends 2026 with $46.96 in EPS & see its CAGR potential assuming different multiples

15x P/E: $704.40💵 … ~17.7% CAGR

14x P/E: $657.44💵 … ~14.2% CAGR

13x P/E: $610.48💵 … ~10.5% CAGR

12x P/E: $563.52💵 … ~6.7% CAGR

As you can see, $ELV has attractive CAGR potential if we assume a >13x multiple (below its 14.04x 5-year mean & below its 14.22x 10-year mean)

More importantly, 13x is MORE than reasonable for a business that’s growing earnings at a >10% rate & has a strong history of linear earnings growth ( $ELV has increased EPS annually since 2008 🎯)

I also like the negative price correlation $ELV can have, relative to tech, in the short-term … adding a layer of safety in a portfolio

In short, $ELV appears to be a worthwhile consideration at $500💵 (pre-market price)

However, knowing that health insurers often face volatility amid the perception of political risks (among other things), it’s wise to piece in & perhaps add a second tranche at ~$460💵

#stocks #investing
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𝐃𝐈𝐒𝐂𝐋𝐎𝐒𝐔𝐑𝐄‼️: 𝐓𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐢𝐬 𝐍𝐎𝐓 𝐈𝐧𝐯𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐀𝐝𝐯𝐢𝐜𝐞. 𝐁𝐚𝐛𝐲𝐥𝐨𝐧 𝐂𝐚𝐩𝐢𝐭𝐚𝐥® 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐢𝐭𝐬 𝐫𝐞𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐬 𝐦𝐚𝐲 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐩𝐨𝐬𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐞𝐜𝐮𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐞𝐬 𝐝𝐢𝐬𝐜𝐮𝐬𝐬𝐞𝐝 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐭𝐰𝐞𝐞𝐭.

𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐢𝐧𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐝 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐭𝐰𝐞𝐞𝐭 𝐢𝐬 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐝 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐢𝐧𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐩𝐮𝐫𝐩𝐨𝐬𝐞𝐬 𝐨𝐧𝐥𝐲 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐛𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐮𝐞𝐝 𝐚𝐬 𝐢𝐧𝐯𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐚𝐝𝐯𝐢𝐜𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐦𝐞𝐞𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐩𝐞𝐜𝐢𝐟𝐢𝐜 𝐧𝐞𝐞𝐝𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐚𝐧𝐲 𝐢𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐯𝐢𝐝𝐮𝐚𝐥 𝐨𝐫 𝐬𝐢𝐭𝐮𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧. 𝐏𝐚𝐬𝐭 𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐢𝐬 𝐧𝐨 𝐠𝐮𝐚𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐟𝐮𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐮𝐥𝐭𝐬.

𝐈𝐧𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐝 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐭𝐰𝐞𝐞𝐭 𝐡𝐚𝐬 𝐛𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐨𝐛𝐭𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐝 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐬𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐜𝐞𝐬 𝐛𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐛𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐞, 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐢𝐬 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐠𝐮𝐚𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐞𝐝 𝐚𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐥𝐞𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐨𝐫 𝐚𝐜𝐜𝐮𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐲.
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⁠Librarian Capital
"Cheetos Food Coloring Turns Mice Transparen" (WSJ) (as discussed on Bloomberg TV just now)

"When scientists massaged a solution of the dye tartrazine onto the bellies of live mice, their skin appeared to vanish, revealing the inner organs"

https://t.co/wJqLkQccBA
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⁠Alex Bilzerian
RT @DeryaTR_: Yes, I just made two offers: you can either concede & admit you were wrong & not pay, or we raise the bet 10x & wait until the end of 2025.
But if you’re unsure, we can keep it as is too. I just didn’t want you to suffer & stress for so long knowing you are so wrong & will lose☺️

This is getting a lot of traffic. A really critical part of the bet is being missed by most readers: Our bet was about valuation *at end of 2025*.

If e.g., OpenAI doesn’t ship GPT-5 by the end of 2025 - or if GPT-5 is disappointing - or if someone else overtakes them - they have a problem. - Gary Marcus
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