Since the other part of today’s Friday File is all about a biotech stock tease, I thought I’d start out this week’s look at my Real Money Portfolio stocks in that sector. I avoid the drug developers, for the most part, but health care should be a huge sector and a growing one, in general, […]
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
August 15, 2018
Cabot’s “Next Amazon” Pitch
This teaser solution originally appeared as part of a Friday File for the Irregulars on December 15. The ads are still running, this time under headlines like “Time to Bet the Farm”, so we’re taking another look, including my updated thoughts following the last quarterly report (I own this one), but most of the teaser […]
August 13, 2018
What the heck is “Brandt Oil?”
Lots of folks have been asking about Dave Forest’s ad for Brandt Oil, which is apparently in every email inbox in the land this week… the ad is for Casey’s International Speculator, which is apparently helmed by Forest now, and for which they’d like to receive $1,995 from you for a year’s subscription (no refunds, […]
August 10, 2018
Friday File pt. 2: Real Money Portfolio Update
Ligand (LGND) started us off on Monday with a huge “beat and raise” quarter — which was already at least partly in the works, since they had raised expectations earlier and made a big deal with WuXi Biologics to amend a license agreement in exchange for a $47 million up-front payment… but they did exceed […]
August 9, 2018
“Hyper-X” Weapons and “The Next Cold War”
Hello, one and all … I took a little longer to recuperate from my fundraising bike ride than anticipated, but I’m back, hale and hearty and ready to steer the Thinkolator toward some mysterious teaser stocks. The one that pops to the top of the list for us today is pitched by Michael Robinson in […]
August 3, 2018
Friday File: Buys in Small Tech and Baby Berkshires
Lots to discuss this week, mostly because several Real Money Portfolio companies reported earnings… and because I added money to two positions this week, and brought a new company into the portfolio. Enjoy! Shopify (SHOP) had reasonable earnings when they came out, but “reasonable” isn’t enough for a high-growth momentum stock that’s trading at almost […]
I love this story… it brings to mind the Indiana Jones-style teaser pitches about top-secret mineral riches in strange places that were so prevalent a decade ago in newsletterland… here’s a little taste: “This Secret Research Complex… “Hidden Away in a Small Town in Australia… “Is About to Reveal a “$66 Billion Breakthrough…” Wow, so […]
This is the intro that was catching the attention of Gumshoe readers over the weekend, from an ad for Ray Blanco’s Breakthrough Technology Alert ($2,000/yr, no refunds): “THE WORLD’S FASTEST FORTUNE “Tiny company to hit $100 billion valuation faster than any other biotech in history… “Here’s how you can get FREE SHARES* — for potential […]
Crazy earnings week, eh? That leads me to a few adjustments to the portfolio, as my opinions have changed about a few stocks at the top of the Real Money Portfolio. So this week your Friday File is another run through a hodgepodge of stocks, starting with the one that I think is looking most […]
July 23, 2018
10-Minute Millionaire Insider (defunct)
Newsletter focused on “coaching” and “passive income” from D.R. Barton, seems to follow both option trading and dividend/income investing strategies. Newsletter is no longer active.
Today we’ve got a bonanza of content for my favorite people (yes, that’s you!) — a couple quick teaser solutions to close out the week, which morphs right into one little transaction in my portfolio, and then an update on a few other things that are going on with Real Money Portfolio stocks. Ready? OK, […]
The ads that get the most attention tend to be either those that are most dramatically distributed, with seemingly every single email address getting multiple copies… or those that come with a big promise and a very high price. Today’s topic of interest is the latter, since we’re told that Stansberry Venture Value’s Dave Lashmet […]
Hello, dear friends — I have a few portfolio updates to start with as I get you updated on a few trades that triggered since I last wrote, so adjustments to the portfolio (including a few buys and sells) will be the focus of today’s Friday File. The latest update to the Real Money Portfolio […]
I haven’t looked at Eifrig’s Income Intelligence in a long time, so it caught my eye when I saw the latest pitch for this Stansberry newsletter that is promising big gains in the very near future because a pick of theirs is likely to be added to the S&P 500. So let’s take a look […]
July 9, 2018
What’s “The Royal Gold of Marijuana?”
Hello, Gumshoe friends! I’ve been off the grid for a little while, but it’s good to be back — and it’s nice to see the pile of hot, steaming teaser pitches that have larded up my inbox over the past couple weeks. So… which one to look at first? I’ve had a lot of requests […]
July 9, 2018
Early Stage Investor
Premium-priced monthly newsletter that seeks to recommend small or early-stage investments, launched in 2018 by Matt McCall, taken over by Luke Lango when McCall left Investorplace.
June 29, 2018
Friday File: Tracking Half a Year of Teasers
Today I’m leaving you with just a short note for your Friday File, as I wrap things up to vacation with family — Stock Gumshoe will be closed next week, and we’ll be back on our regular publishing schedule on July 9… enjoy! One of the things that we do to keep us sane here […]
Every now and then a reader sends in a question about one of the stock ideas teased by dividend.com, which is a service that looks for, you guessed it, dividend paying stocks. Their standard “tease” is that they send around some hints about the latest stock they’ve added to one of their “best” lists, but […]
The Infinite Income newsletter last crossed our paths when they were promising “Trump Bonus Checks,” which was certainly silly, and the ad I’ve been looking at today takes a tack that sounds a little bit familiar — they now say you can “piggyback” on the Swiss social security system and get big ol’ monthly checks. […]
June 22, 2018
Friday File: Operation SPARCSTAR!
Huh, you say? Operation SPARCSTAR? True, not all of you will have seen this ad — it’s for a UK newsletter, but it caught my eye and I thought it might be interesting to dig in and see what they’re pitching. And I’m actually in London at the moment, so it seems appropriate to toss […]
Recent Author Comments
Posted on September 20, 2024
Posted on September 19, 2024
I haven't looked in the last month or two, but last wrote about it here:https://www.stockgumshoe.com/reviews/green-zone-fortunes/the-next-google-answers-eccentric-billionaire-makes-a-big-bet-on-a-tiny-ai-company-tease-from-green-zone-fortunes/[...]
Posted on September 19, 2024
Have never heard of that one, but I'll try to take a look. Anything in particular you like about them?[...]
Posted on September 19, 2024
BTBT, per Altucher. Don't know whether he actually made the investment yesterday or not.[...]
Posted on September 19, 2024
Sounds like that's the second coming of Adam O'Dell's "Imperium" pitch -- I did indeed cover that back in 2021 and 2022, the stocks did terribly... and I covered the updated version, which teases some different stocks, a few months ago:https://www.sto[...]
Posted on September 19, 2024
I've written about Verses a couple times since it went hyper-promotional in the first half of 2023 -- they have finally gotten revenue growing, but I still don't trust the business. It might work out, but with them borrowing money and issuing shares at a [...]
Posted on September 19, 2024
Sorry for not getting back to you... I don't have a problem with the current proxy and executive compensation, after being relatively reassured that it was in line with what they were doing before.I will be interested to see what's said at the meeti[...]
Posted on September 18, 2024
I'm sure this isn't what you want to hear, but that stock is so dramatically over-followed that there aren't really any cost-effective ways to trade it -- you can buy puts or calls to bet on huge changes of direction, but so many people are already doing t[...]
Posted on September 18, 2024
Thanks for acknowledging my noble sacrifice :)[...]
Posted on September 18, 2024
We love you, too, David. Thanks![...]
Posted on September 18, 2024
Thanks! Glad to have you here, stick around and tell all your friends :)[...]
Posted on September 18, 2024
Pretty low, I think, which is why I sold the $10 options to reduce the cost of the $2 ones to roughly "in the money" levels.[...]
Posted on September 17, 2024
Thanks... guess they're not promoting Scheidt as much as the old Agora did.[...]
Posted on September 17, 2024
Thanks for the confirmation... and the GDOT news, which I guess he must be teasing for a different letter.I know some of the Paradigm folks don't really get into individual stock picking, like Jim Rickards, but didn't know Zachary Scheidt was one of the[...]
Posted on September 16, 2024
He's been running with that one since the Spring of 2023 (https://www.stockgumshoe.com/reviews/the-big-secret-on-wall-street-this-week/de-tease-porters-secret-energy-grid-obamas-screw-up-and-reagans-premonition/), but yes, the ads continue to roll teasing [...]
Posted on September 16, 2024
Will take a look, but that sounds a lot like New Found Gold, which Williams' colleague Luke Burgess was pitching a while[...]
Posted on September 16, 2024
That's a different type of firm -- more of a commodity trading company, right? Interesting call, sort of a play on the interest in gold rather than the gold price itself.[...]
Posted on September 14, 2024
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[...]
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[...]
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Haven't seen a new ad from him lately, but earlier this year he was pitching DFH as an "echo boom" pick (https://www.stockgumshoe.com/reviews/charles-mizrahis-8-figure-fortunes/reveal-mizrahis-16-trillion-echo-boom-stock-pick/) -- I'll look for any newer a[...]