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Travis Johnson, Stock Gumshoe

Author Bio

Travis Johnson is an individual investor who founded Stock Gumshoe in 2007 as a way to air his dissections of overhyped marketing pitches... and to share the "secret" stocks that stock newsletters hype to get your attention and your subscription dollars. His thinking? If you already know what the "secret" stock is, you can make a much more reasonable and thoughtful decision about whether or not to commit to an expensive newsletter subscription. (And if you don't pay for the info, you'll be more free to think for yourself about whether or not the investment is worth your money.)In his charmed life he has been, among other things, a university faculty member, a fundraiser, a writer, and a world-champion ice-cream scooper. Now he runs Stock Gumshoe for you, allowing us all to discuss and dissect the latest overheated stock ideas... as well as review and talk about investment newsletters and enjoy the commentary and opinions of Stock Gumshoe's other special contributors and the discussion with our unusually attractive, erudite and polite readers. He lives with Mrs. Gumshoe and all their little Gumshoes in the wilds of Western Massachusetts.

Author Archives

Entry level monthly newsletter that says it will look at “big picture trends that drive huge, multiyear moves in entire sectors” and pick stocks for that trend “at the best prices.”

I’m still able to generate some enthusiasm about specific stocks that I think are appealing enough to buy at these prices… but I find it very hard to be optimistic in a macro sense right now, it really feels to me as though the market is whistling past the graveyard and being far too sanguine […]

Since Star Wars day just passed (May the Fourth Be With You!), I guess it’s time for a “Death Star” story — this one comes from an ad for The Wealth Warrior ($99/yr), which is Jason Simpkins’ security and defense-focused intro-level newsletter from the Outsider Club. And the headline, of course, sounds terrifying: “Beijing’s Death […]

The latest ad from Louis Navellier for his Growth Investor newsletter is a doozy… full of images of Louis Navellier driving his midlife crisis Porsche supercar around and showing off the red “turbo” button, with that serving as a “you’re too dumb to get it otherwise” metaphor for the tremendous potential of 5G wireless. We […]

We’re used to seeing biotech stocks surge because of the results of a clinical trial… but it’s quite crazy to see the whole market pinning its hopes on a clinical trial. Gilead’s (GILD) Remdisivir had some weak results leak last week and that helped inspire the market selloff (“Oh no, we won’t get a drug […]

Today I’m throwing in a little bonus article, since it’s an interesting topic, everyone seems to be obsessed with gold again this week (though gold prices took a little tumble yesterday), and a few folks have asked about E.B. Tucker from Casey Research and his “Gold Placements” pitch. If that doesn’t sound familiar, he has […]

Pricier upgrade from Strategic Investor. Offering to give you “multiple ways to profit” because “the era of ‘easy money’ is over”. Formerly edited by E. B. Tucker (until mid-2020).

The entry-level newsletter from George Gilder re-launched in 2019 as the George Gilder Report, sort of a continuation of the Gilder Technology Report he published in the 1990s, and then moved back to it original title later on. Monthly newsletter promising “little-known investment opportunities that are tied to emerging technology trends.” Switched publishers a few […]

The Motley Fool loves to use terms like “double down” and “triple down” in its ads for some reason, and this latest one basically extends a previous Motley Fool US pitch to Motley Fool Canada… but I’ll cover it quickly for you because the questions do pile up about these ideas. The pitch is in […]

I share Trade Note updates with you, my favorite people, whenever I do any meaningful buying or selling in between Friday Files, but they’re usually shorter notes in the comment threads — today I’ve chugged through a string of relatively small trades that I need to update you on, and I’ve got a few minutes, […]

Here’s my soothsaying bit for this week, which you should feel free to ignore — like everyone else who’s predicting the future, I’m probably going to be wrong. I don’t think, even now, that we’re pricing in even the bad news that is already almost certain this year… or if we are, we’re pricing in […]

Recent Author Comments

On Friday File: Pangea's Wizard for Gold Riches?

That one has certainly demanded some patience. I remain somewhat assured that Nolan Watson has been saying that they've already bought their growth, so they'll likely just be paying down debt and holding off on major deals for a while... but there's alway[...]

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On What's "The Last Retirement Stock You'll Ever Need?" (Called "NVIDIA's 'Secret Royalty'" in teaser pitch from Dylan Jovine's Behind the Markets)

Several SMRs are in early stage development, none of the US ones are permitted or under construction yet. BWXT works on most of the naval reactors and does other nuclear contracting for the government, including building a microreactor for military bases,[...]

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On What's the Stock Behind Simpkins' "Project Wingman: Tiny AI Defense Stock With 20x–50x Potential?"

Could be, a lot of the smaller defense contractors have been acquired over the years. Don't know if any of their technology is particularly valuable or proprietary, but they are doing some interesting things with rocket engines and other stuff in addition[...]

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On What's "The Last Retirement Stock You'll Ever Need?" (Called "NVIDIA's 'Secret Royalty'" in teaser pitch from Dylan Jovine's Behind the Markets)

Indeed, that's certainly the flavor of the month... there won't really be any SMRs in operation for five years or so, though, even if they proceed without hiccups it will take quite a while for them to be meaningful contributors to the grid.[...]

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On $4 Gold Stock -- "Greatest Gold Trade Ever?"

It wasn't the permit that drove it up to $8, it's been moving up pretty steadily for a few months -- they just didn't bother to update their ad.[...]

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On $4 Gold Stock -- "Greatest Gold Trade Ever?"

I imagine a lot of folks still doubt the permitting will come through, so maybe that doubt will ease over the next 6 months or so. But investors often find it hard to hold on to mining stocks once it gets "real" -- when they're borrowing and spending and[...]

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On $4 Gold Stock -- "Greatest Gold Trade Ever?"

Could be, though if they can really borrow $1.8 billion and the terms are friendly enough, they could perhaps go it alone. I hope it works out for you in the end, either way.[...]

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On $4 Gold Stock -- "Greatest Gold Trade Ever?"

Yep, a 12,500% return would mean it grows to a $63 billion market cap. I guess it's theoretically possible someday... but no.[...]

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On Answers: "Apple's Silent AI Suppliers" -- Who are Luke Lango's "Three Tiny Companies" for "Apple's Next Trillion Dollar Bet?"

I think Apple has used ARM's basic chip design tech every since they designed their first chips. Whether they're using "more" of it for this latest chip, or ARM is more involved in Apple's chip design for this one than usual, I have no idea, but the big d[...]

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On Answers: "Apple's Silent AI Suppliers" -- Who are Luke Lango's "Three Tiny Companies" for "Apple's Next Trillion Dollar Bet?"

Apple has acquired several voice-enabling technologies over the years, but if they haven't used SOUN to this point it seems unlikely that they need to -- it seems like auto companies are partnering with SOUN so they can avoid having to be captive to Apple [...]

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On Alex Green's "Emergency Summit" Picks for Fed Rate Cuts

They often throw their promo Picks into "special reports" Instead of the actual model portfolio, but some letters also keep using stocks as teaser picks even after the pundit has "sold" them.[...]

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On Friday File: Cold Quarter... and a Bunch of Little Buys

There's certainly risk of the brand plateauing. I think it's still looking pretty solid, but only time will tell, I guess.[...]

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On Friday File: Cold Quarter... and a Bunch of Little Buys

I haven't been following this management team long enough to have a great handle on their investor relations skills, but I was surprised that they just mentioned that number and didn't seem to realize it was a bombshell of an announcement that would have m[...]

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On Microblog: Altuchers stock tease APPLE supplier.

Haven't suffered through the latest Altucher pitch yet, but Credo was the stock he was similarly touting back in June. (https://www.stockgumshoe.com/reviews/luke-langos-innovation-investor/answers-apples-silent-ai-suppliers-who-are-luke-langos-three-tin[...]

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On "Trade of the Decade" 10-Bagger Picks teased by Junior Resource Speculator

Del Real is out pitching this story again, though with a preamble that one of the three stocks has been acquired for about $3 billion -- so that confirms that the copper stock that I did not unearth above was indeed Filo Corp (FIL.TO, FLMMF), which is bein[...]

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On Lichtenfeld's "The Tiny Company Nvidia Can't Ignore"

Welcome aboard, Chet -- the pitchmen love to get us revved up about quick gains and juice those gambling urges... but sadly, one telltale sign of a great long-term investment is that you don't have to decide whether or not to invest within five minutes. S[...]

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On Porter & Whitney's "New Form of Money" -- What's "The Secret U.S. Currency No One Told You About?"

Those are the super-levered ETFs that are designed to either generate large options income or one-day levered gains to a single stock. The YieldMax ones are pretty prominent, but there are a lot of others that can let people bet on short-term moves or tak[...]

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On Lichtenfeld's "The Tiny Company Nvidia Can't Ignore"

He's run similar ads all year, though I think he swapped out some of the "secret" partners in more recent ads. First time around it Was TSM, ARM and (maybe) SMCI... in later versions it looks like it was ANSS, ARM and maybe VRT, though they could have sha[...]

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On Friday File: NVIDIA, Booze, Poland, Sky Quarry... and Happy Birthday, Warren Buffett!

Interesting, new one to me -- thanks![...]

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On Friday File: NVIDIA, Booze, Poland, Sky Quarry... and Happy Birthday, Warren Buffett!

Not really, I handle situations on a case by case basis... there are some companies that I primarily own because I see a shorter-term opportunity to make a profit, and I might own that stock for just a few years (or even just a few months, in rare situatio[...]

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