Taking Stock… of Stocks.
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Happy Thursday!
Are you wondering if it’s safe to put away the stress balls and hit pause on the “sounds of nature” meditation playlist for now? Apparently the stock market does not think so. Things are far from “normal.” China’s Omicron wave, the war in Ukraine, a strengthening dollar, and crypto flameouts are just some of the items making headlines this week, and we’re guessing no one had emergency baby formula supplies being airlifted into the US on their 2022 bingo cards. Manufacturers Abbott and Perrigo are ramping up production to deal with the shortage (ICYMI: we dove into investing in the food and agriculture sector last week).
Since the stock market roller coaster comes amid repeated warnings about a possible recession, everyone needs a compass of sorts to navigate turbulent times. That is why we’re happy to focus this issue on the valuation of companies and how to access analyst research to inform your investing. You’ll make many decisions on your investing journey, so understanding the value of the stocks you are considering buying, holding, or selling is a key step toward building the confidence you need to make investment decisions that are in line with your values, regardless of the headlines.
The uptick in corporate impact and climate reports is great, but the variety of standards they use to highlight the positive steps they’ve taken can make comparing different firms’ performance… challenging. That’s why we’ve just launched a new resource page: ESG Reporting Frameworks and Standards: A Primer. It helps you keep all the standards straight and will give you a leg up in understanding what measurement standards companies and regulators are choosing to follow. If you’re looking for disclosures on sustainability matters, you can visit the official company website or simply enter their name on Corporate Register. Happy digging!
News you can use
- ESG came under further fire this week as the S&P 500 ESG Index dropped Tesla. The revision, which came as part of their annual revision to both reflect the latest E, S, and G metrics within each sector and to reflect the weight of the more famous S&P 500, highlighted the challenges values-aligned investors face with companies that score well in one area (E in the case of Tesla) but fall short in others and how some indexes prioritize climate pledges and disclosures as companies like Exxon remained on the index while Tesla exited.
- We saw the benefits of broad-based employee stock ownership plans this week when KKR sold CHI Overhead Door to Nucor for $3 billion. The sale, which will be KKR’s highest paying US buyout in 30 years, will deliver significant payouts to most of CHI’s 400 hourly and career employees as the equity program KKR created when they bought the company gave all of them ownership stakes in the company.
