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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

Apparently, there’s some kind of profit window that “slams shut” on September 30th, according to Christian DeHaemer, and you have to buy this $3 “disruptive technology” stock before then. So what the heck is he talking about? Let’s investigate… The pitch is for Crisis and Opportunity (now being sold at $1,599/year), and it’s all about […]

Premium priced service with recommendations for “fast” ways to profit from volatile energy markets. Perhaps similar to the now defunct Pure Asset Trader from Ian Cooper (and the same publisher).

This latest pitch from the Oxford Club has really caught the attention of Gumshoe readers — lots of questions about this “Jupiter Engine” that will “end global warming” and make all other power plants obsolete… mostly, of course, because it’s also supposed to give you “the retirement of your dreams” as revenue “surges by 4,130%” […]

New cryptocurrency trading service launched in August 2017, aims to recommend 2-3 trades in cryptocurrencies per month based on the currency expertise of Martin Hutchinson. Sold on a no-refunds, up-front basis for $3,000 with recurring annual “maintenance fees” thereafter.

A few readers have asked about this recent Motley Fool Stock Advisor promotion, so I thought I’d take a quick look-see for you today… apropo for “Apple Week,” it was all about Apple’s next “secret project” and “3 stocks to buy before Apple unveils its next must-have product.” So what is it? Well, I’ll spare […]

This article, originally titled “‘Universal Voice Control’ and ‘The End of Google as We Know it,’” was published on May 11. The ads have recently been coming in hot and heavy for this service, with the new ads headlined “Want to Invest like Jeff Bezos” and “Jeff Bezos’ Next Big Bet”, so we’re re-running this […]

Lou Basenese has a new service over at Agora called The Takeover Alert ($1,750), and he’s all but promising that he can identify takeover targets in advance… and give you the chance to make $29,000 profits from stocks that surge dramatically in just a day. To which the first response from any reader should be, […]

New service that aims to use Louis Basenese’s “M.A.R.K.E.D” methodology to identify stocks that are on the verge of being takeover targets. Basenese had a similar newsletter called The Takeover Trader several years ago.

Recent Author Comments

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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On "America's Second Coming" Picks from Porter Stansberry

Don't know anything about it -- are they planning to build a mine (PEA or feasibility study?), or is it just a discovery?[...]

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

$377 is still my preferred buy level, but it hasn't hit my preferred level very often over the years. My "max buy" is currently $463, which is my latest estimate of intrinsic value per share.[...]

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

The DNOPY ADR represents half of a share on the Warsaw exchange.[...]

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

Succession planning (make the portfolio easier for next CEO), likelihood of higher taxes, high concentration, or just a richly valued market Sparking him to remember his regret that he didn't sell some KO shares when it was trading at 50x earnings a couple[...]

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

For which stock?[...]

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On "Stimulus Stipends" teased by Jason Williams -- Can you really "Claim $7,882 Every Quarter?"

Depends on how T-Bills change over the next few months, mostly. The big reason to buy REIs or any dividend paying stocks is that the dividend can rise, which won't happen with a bond... but most REITs are under pressure and not raising their dividend much[...]

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On Friday File: Gold, Keys and "Quality" that's Just Too Expensive

Thanks Shaun. A lot of investing is about accepting that a lot of your decisions are going to be "wrong" in the fullness of time... so when possible, especially when your level of certainty is low, make the decisions smaller.[...]

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On "Stimulus Stipends" teased by Jason Williams -- Can you really "Claim $7,882 Every Quarter?"

Haven't seen that ad, but if it's about investing it's probably one of Amazon's landlords -- a warehouse REIT like PLD on the e-commerce side, or a data center REIT like DLR on the AWS side.[...]

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On Reveal: "NVIDIA's Secret Partner" teased by Shah Gilani

For now, at least, looks like ALAB bottomed out around when most newly public companies do... in the week or two surrounding the end of the six-month lockup period, when insiders began to do some post-IPO selling. We'll see how things settle down in the[...]

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On "Stimulus Stipends" teased by Jason Williams -- Can you really "Claim $7,882 Every Quarter?"

If greed didn't often overrule judgement, there wouldn't be many retail investment newsletters.[...]

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On Friday File: Gold, Keys and "Quality" that's Just Too Expensive

I give up on trying to predict recessions, the economy is so different than it has been in the past... but I agree, the risks of a really bad stock market are more acute than they've been in a while. If only because valuations remain extended.Doesn't [...]

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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)

Well, they're also all a little desperate after subscriber numbers have plummeted over the past couple years -- everyone's hunting for a pitch that works to bring in new subscribers.[...]

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

Not very "AI," but a high end travel services firm. Seems tough to scale, In my opinion, but I've never looked deeply at Lindblad.[...]

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