Ian Wyatt has been out over the past couple weeks with some “webinars” in which he talks up the coronavirus outbreak (for an hour!) and then ends his show with a tease about several “special reports” on the stocks he thinks will make you a lot of money as we fight COVID-19… and, of course, […]
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
March 13, 2020
Friday File: Buying and Selling (at a Social Distance)
It’s been a wild week. The mood was still pretty upbeat on Monday and Tuesday, a little anxiety but a lot of complacency (including mine)… I was in Toronto early this week, with plenty of hand washing and hand sanitizer but no real signs of panic or changes in lifestyle for most folks — the […]
This is the latest teaser pitch that a lot of folks have been asking about — and rightly so, I expect, because it’s designed to be extremely topical and get you revved up immediately. Here’s the intro to the ad that I’ve seen in some Angel Publishing newsletters: “We’re now in crisis mode over coronavirus […]
March 6, 2020
Friday File: Panic in the time of Purell
It’s been an unusually active month in the Real Money Portfolio — a couple big sells, several brand new positions, and quite a bit more churn than I usually have. Those transactions have mostly been fairly small, the largest position that I opened or closed was the sale of my sub-2% Facebook position, but that’s […]
I’m updating this quickie teaser solution for you today because we’re getting a LOT of questions about it over the past few days. The ad originally ran in mid-January and we published the first version of this article on January 20, but it is still circulating widely. The ad seems identical to the one we […]
This is an update of a teaser solution from an older Friday File for everyone to read… I figure the Irregulars won’t be too upset, since the stock in question is up dramatically since this piece was published, but it’s still an interesting story — and a stock I own and would like to buy […]
March 4, 2020
Solving RiskHedge’s “Cyber Defense 7-Bagger” Teaser
Stephen McBride has been using this ad to market RiskHedge’s Disruption Investor (currently “on sale” for $99/yr) since last Fall, but readers have continued to ask about it and I haven’t had a chance to look at it yet — so when I started seeing it again this week, it seemed like time to dig […]
March 3, 2020
Summary of the Annual Review
For those who like brevity, I just posted a spreadsheet version of the Annual Review, with a very brief comment on each stock along with a “buy below” price for all of the stocks I own and the “stop loss” price (some of which disagree with each other, since I use human decisionmaking on top […]
March 2, 2020
Are the Fool’s “FAZER” stocks “The Next FAANG?”
We’ve had a lot of questions pop up over the past couple days about the Motley Fool’s “FAZER” stocks, which will apparently be the focus of a “special presentation” they’re making tomorrow morning. The gist of the email, which comes from Eric Bleeker, is pure FOMO — it triggers all the feelings of angst in […]
February 27, 2020
Friday File: Annual Review Part Six (done!)
It’s been a wild ride for the past couple weeks of coronavirus panic, and this week has been especially crazy (and still isn’t quite over)… though it’s encouraging that my Real Money Portfolio has been a little bit stronger than the market so far this year — partly because of brilliant stock selection, I’d like […]
February 27, 2020
Rare Opportunity in “World’s Largest Silver Mine?”
This article was originally published on January 6, 2020. Neither the ad we’re covering nor this article has been updated since then, though I’ve added a small update note at the end. The stock is back to where it was before the first promo pitch was mailed, and the latest emails pointing to this teaser […]
February 26, 2020
Stansberry’s Cloud Tease, part 2 — What’s that other SaaS-y Stock?
Yesterday we looked into the first “Hidden SaaS” cloud software stock hinted at in the ads for Stansberry Venture Value, and today, as promised, we’re on to number two… there’s also a third one hinted at, but the clues are pretty sparse on that one (so no promises). Let’s just jump right in — what […]
February 25, 2020
What’s “The ‘Hidden’ SaaS Stock” for Tech Royalties?
I’ve gotten a bunch of questions about the latest teasers for Stansberry Venture Value (“on sale” for $1,897/yr, no refunds), so I thought I’d dig into that a little bit today — they’re hinting at a couple cloud SaaS stocks to pique your interest… and, well, consider me piqued. The ad is not brand new, […]
February 24, 2020
What’s Teased as “Our #1 Takeover Target for February?”
Today we’ve got a teaser pitch from Dylan Jovine’s new service, Takeover Targets, which he says is “half price” for charter subscribers (that would be $997/year, and unlike many higher-end newsletters they say they do offer refunds for 30 days)… and, as you might imagine, the service is all about identifying companies that might be […]
February 24, 2020
Takeover Targets
Advisory that aims to recommend a new “takeover target” stock that they think will be acquired each month. Initial teaser ads indicate a lot of these will likely be biotech stocks.
February 21, 2020
Friday File: Annual Review Part Five
Earnings season is winding down, with only a few of my larger holdings yet to report, and so is my Annual Review of all of the stocks in my Real Money Portfolio — so I’ve got another installment of that for you today, sharing my updated opinion on a bunch of holdings (including a few […]
February 20, 2020
Capital Wealth Letter
Entry-level monthly stock-picking newsletter from StreetAuthority, formerly titled Top Stock Advisor.
February 18, 2020
What’s this “Dark Burst” Business from Michael Robinson?
This teaser solution was first published on December 9, when the ad was promising a dramatic surge on January 1. The stock has climbed quite a bit, and the latest urgent teaser pitch is that the company will announce something dramatic on February 18. That is the day they will announce earnings, after the market […]
February 14, 2020
Annual Review, Part 4
OK, I know, it’s getting a little ridiculous that I still haven’t covered the whole portfolio of stocks with my annual review updates — but for some I’m waiting to see what the quarterly update tells me, and for others, well, I’m just trying to catch up. Here’s what I’ve got for you by way […]
February 14, 2020
McCall’s “Crypto Bank About to Take Off”
It’s Friday and I’m mostly working on my Friday File and Annual Review for the Irregulars, but I couldn’t resist a quickie answer for you on this latest Investorplace pitch… Matt McCall is selling his Early Stage Investor service ($1799, nonrefundable) with a spiel about eight life-changing microcaps in his “Microcap Millionaires Portfolio.” He gives […]
Recent Author Comments
Posted on September 14, 2024
Posted on September 11, 2024
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,[...]
Posted on September 11, 2024
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[...]
Posted on September 10, 2024
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.[...]
Posted on September 10, 2024
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.[...]
Posted on September 9, 2024
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[...]
Posted on September 9, 2024
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.[...]
Posted on September 9, 2024
Yep, a 12,500% return would mean it grows to a $63 billion market cap. I guess it's theoretically possible someday... but no.[...]
Posted on September 9, 2024
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[...]
Posted on September 9, 2024
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 [...]
Posted on September 9, 2024
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.[...]
Posted on September 9, 2024
There's certainly risk of the brand plateauing. I think it's still looking pretty solid, but only time will tell, I guess.[...]
Posted on September 7, 2024
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[...]
Posted on September 5, 2024
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[...]
Posted on September 4, 2024
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[...]
Posted on September 4, 2024
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[...]
Posted on September 4, 2024
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[...]
Posted on September 3, 2024
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[...]
Posted on September 3, 2024
Interesting, new one to me -- thanks![...]
Posted on September 3, 2024
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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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[...]