Research Roundup: April 30, 2025
Table of the Week: Sector Returns by Country
Names in the News: INTC & VZ - free
First, we look at Intel Corporation (INTC, rated ‘Underweight’), a firm which was downgraded to ‘Underweight’ last month within the U.S.-relative PRV framework. The company’s stock price rose after reports of a significant workforce reduction plan surfaced ahead of earnings release.
Next up, we assess Verizon Communications Inc. (VZ, rated ‘Overweight’). The firm was upgraded to ‘Overweight’ in the PRV framework last week, led by an improvement in the Quality (P-R) score. The quarterly release earlier this week saw a positive earnings surprise, though the firm lost more wireless subscribers than consensus had expected.
Industry Snapshot: Global Tobacco - free
Most names within the industry have very strong Quality, however, the PRV performance for some firms is dragged down by relatively high Valuations. Incremental PRV growth rolled over in early 2024 and deteriorated through the rest of the year but has seen some signs of a bottoming in the recent months. The market has started pricing in a recovery in PRV Fundamentals at a time when aggregate economic profitability is starting from the lowest level in 13 years.
Attractive Developed Market Firms That Look Ripe for Continued Outperformance - membership
Through the market volatility, safe havens such as Gold and Consumer Staples have been strong performers YTD. You may wonder what else has worked? In this report we seek out attractively rated developed market (DM) firms in the PRV framework that have seen a positive return YTD but also continue to look attractive in the PRV framework today.
Global ex U.S. Banks: Q1 Update - membership
Banks continue to look attractive in the PRV framework, especially in Europe, Asia ex Japan, Latin America, and the Middle East & Africa. Overall, the industry did slip from 56 when our Roadmap was published to 54 today. The sales-weighted averages (not shown) are stronger in the Global universe, North America, Europe, AxJ, and Japan indicating the model’s current preference for Larger Cap names. This report contains an update to our Most Attractive Global Large Cap Banks list from the January 2025 Roadmap. Seventy-two percent of the names are ahead of the Banks index and all remain attractive (PRV > 60).
Health Care Providers & Services: Q1 Update - membership
The Health Care Providers & Services industry continues to look attractive in the PRV model. Fifty-two of the 107 companies reporting December 2024, January 2025, February 2025, or March 2025 results have reported an improvement to their PRV Momentum, including 20 companies that saw their first improvement after quarters of declining value creation levels (a positive inflection up).
Industry Snapshot: Global Transportation Infrastructure - membership
Incremental PRV growth has turned further negative since our last snapshot in July 2023, impacted by EBITDA Margin contraction and a deceleration in top-line growth through much of 2024 and Q1 of 2025. Large cap firms within the industry look unfavourable through the PRV lens given high Valuations and only moderate Quality. We see stock picking opportunities within the SMID-cap space.
The weekly research reports allow investors to parse through thousands of companies globally with comparable accounting adjustments to drive informed investment decision-making on a systematic basis.
Each week we produce 5-7 timely and actionable reports to highlight key themes, trends, and opportunities from the framework. These reports are aggregated into our Weekly Roundup and sent to clients with priority.
