Stock Gumshoe — New and Improved

Just a quick note to let you know that I’m now tracking the performance of all the “teaser” companies I sleuth out here as the Stock Gumshoe. There’s a link in the sidebar for the live spreadsheet where you can see how each of these stocks has performed.

Here’s what I’m tracking:

The buy price and date — this is based on the first email ad I’ve gotten, or on other clues that indicate when the ad first went out if I didn’t see the original ad.

The company, including live (well, 20 minute delayed) price quotes on all our teaser companies.

And the advisor, including both the newsletter and the advisor’s name if I know them.

I hope this makes the service more useful for you — and keep sending in the clues (and solutions, if you’ve got them). I’ve enjoyed the first few weeks of providing this service, and actually, as of now, most of the teased companies would have made you at least a little bit of money (not that I’m advocating buying anything based just on newsletter ads or your friendly Stock Gumshoe’s sleuthability, of course), and there have been a few stinkers and a couple barnburners.

This data will probably tell us more about how good the advisors are at cherry picking their best ideas for their ads than it will about how good each advisor is over all, but at least it should be interesting — and it might tell us whether it’s worth it to read this stock spam at all for anything beyond entertainment value (please say yes!)

This addition to the service has been requested by several readers, one of whom actually gave me some good hints about how to make it easy — so thanks for that, and if the rest of you have ideas for the Gumshoe send them right along.
             ——————–
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The author will always disclose any direct long or short equity, debt or option position in any stocks written about as of the day of publication, and will not trade in any stocks mentioned for three days (72 hours) after publication. Full disclaimer is at the bottom of the page.

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1. Just discovered your site today, and it’s a good one.I get lots of email offers and can often sleuth out the stock mentioned. Some prove to be winners, but there are losers too. Instead of taking their ‘one month free’ and then cancelling, I can visit your site!!! If and when I make some extra dough, I’ll be sending you a donation. Thanks….Les

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   Posted by Pittpolderpapa | April 28, 2007, 7:35 pm

2. WHAT HAPPENDTO PART TWO OF ” DRILLING DOWN FOR O&G DRILLERS ” ?

   [Reply]

   Posted by FIDO | September 27, 2007, 9:15 pm

3. Powerofconcentration.net is teasing about a Book to help make you wealthy by using greater concentration. Here is the book that you can download for FREE:

   http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/1570

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   Posted by Anonymous | October 24, 2007, 2:22 pm

4. Can you spot the three ETFs that Weiss is talking about, please?

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   M. Minton Reply:
   July 6th, 2008 at 9:02 pm

   skf
   srs
   scc

   that’s an older ad, but he’s still recommending these etf’s–especially now. I have all three on his recommendation. skf and scc are up from when I bought them, srs is climbing, but I didn’t time the purchase well, and it’s a little under the water from when I bought it, but I’d not give it up for anything right now.

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   Posted by jay branch | February 27, 2008, 7:18 pm

5. good day all. great site- i love it. i do not currently have info to give, but i am looking for some info to receive if its possible…? does anyone know who the 3 Cloud Computing companies are that motley fool recommends?i know google is 1 of them…..
   thanks and happy trading!

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   Posted by tradergirl999 | August 13, 2008, 11:31 am

6. You referenced readers to First Hour Trader. What is the real scoop about Manny and his trading service?

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   StockGumshoe Reply:
   April 20th, 2009 at 11:07 am

   Haven’t ever researched this one, I assume by “referenced” you mean the advertising they placed in my email newsletter, I don’t think I’ve ever written about them personally.

   I’m not much of an expert on short-term trading (this looks like a day trading alert service of some kind), other than to say that lots more novices lose money at it than make money, but there are several similar ones I’ve been asked to look at, too, so I’ll try to do so and share with y’all if I find anything interesting or have something to add.

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   Mary Masliah Reply:
   April 24th, 2009 at 1:50 pm

   They require you to have a minimum of 25K to invest, and he makes two trades per day-between 9:30 and 10:30am. I would hate to loose it all in one day trade…

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   Will Reply:
   July 22nd, 2009 at 3:23 pm

   Hello StockGumshoe!
   Great Website! I love the fact that you stepped up to the plate and do all these Awesome Reviews! On another note, have you had the chance to review the First Hour Trader that your email company adverstises in your newsletters? I would love to hear your opinion on the site and their service.

   Keep up the great job!

   Will

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   Posted by Joanne Constantinides | April 20, 2009, 10:50 am

7. Received a letter from Dr. Steve Sjuggerud about a little-known Social Security form that allows some people (not all) to increase their SS benefits. Of course, you have to buy into his service for 6 months to get the “free report” which tells you what form, who’s eligible, etc. I checked over the SSA website list of forms and did not see anything that rang a bell to this regard. Does anyone out there know of this? It’s not really stock-related, except you have to buy into his stock service to find out. Any answers out there?
   Harold

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   Posted by Harold J Pantely | May 2, 2009, 2:08 pm

8. Harold. Sorry it took so long but I just saw your post. If you haven’t found out already here is the deal; When you become eligible to start drawing SS benefits there are several tranches- you can start drawing immediately at 62, wait until you are 66, or wait until you are 70. On average I’d say at 62 a person draws about 500 a month, 800 at 66, and 1200 at 70. Here’s what you can do. Start drawing at 62. When you reach 66 you can pay back to the fed everything they paid you up to that point, withdraw your original application, and then refile at the greater rate.

   500 a month for 48 months is 24000, you pay this back and you get the 800 per month for the rest of your life, or 300 a month extra for as long as you live. Or wait until you’re 70. 500 a month for 8 years is 48000, pay that back and get an extra 700 a month for life. An annuity paying 700 for the rest of your life is pretty expensive; probably well over 6 figures, I’m sure it is. But in this case you can pay 48,000 and immediately get 700 a month extra for life, a great deal.

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   StockGumshoe Reply:
   May 21st, 2009 at 11:50 am

   Thanks Kirk — you’ve explained this much more pithily than I could, but I did write about it last fall here:

   http://www.stockgumshoe.com/2008/10/ssa-521-how-to-boost-your-social-security-payments-by-1033-per-month.html

   [Reply]

   Posted by Captain Kirk | May 21, 2009, 11:40 am

9. does anyone know what stock Lance Spicer from Trident confidential is referring to….

   I’m expecting a 460% return on this infrastructure stock by the end of 2009!

   - It has a Price to Earnings Ratio of 2 meaning they earn half their share price in profits each year.
   - A Return of Equity of 22%, which means management are very effective in creating profit from shareholder’s funds.
   - They have a very healthy profit margin of 13% and growing
   - The company is no debt at all
   - Sales are growing, even now, at 20% per year.
   - Earnings are growing at 21% long term
   - It has beaten expectations in 3 of the last quarters by nearly 9% and in the quarter it missed, it missed by 1cent!
   - It is a market leader and well respected in it’s field for innovation and quality.
   - Good free cash flow of nearly $300m per year, which means it’s a “cash generating machine”
   - It’s down 82% off its price in 2007 and it will take a rise of 460% to get back, and why would it get back? Its historical Price to Earnings Ratio is 15 and on earnings of $3.25 next year, means it should be trading at a price 7 times higher!
   - Business is great and the backlog for new orders is at a record level!

   Bottom line, nothing is more certain to make money over the next 12 months than this company! If I could, I would own the whole thing.

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   Posted by UofM | June 7, 2009, 2:56 pm

10. 1) Is there any connection between INO TV and Stock Gumshoe, or are they just advertising on your site?
    2) Could you include a “search” box feature?
    3) Have you run an anlysis of alleged super gold find near “Bristol Bay”?

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    StockGumshoe Reply:
    June 20th, 2009 at 4:34 pm

    Looks like someone beat me to 2 and 3 — INO TV is an advertiser, there is no editorial or other business connection between INO and Stock Gumshoe.

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    Posted by Marshall Arlin | June 20, 2009, 11:15 am

11. #3)……..NAK

    http://www.stockgumshoe.com/2009/03/alaskas-secret-gold-mine-biggest-gold-discovery-of-last-20-years.html

    http://oneguysinvestments.com/gumshoe/comments.php?DiscussionID=2113&Focus=21668#Comment_21668

    [Reply]

    Posted by spreadtrader | June 20, 2009, 11:35 am

12. #2)…….oh…..I found those links using the “search box feature”. Check out the top of this page to the right; and in the forum, click on the “search” tab.

    [Reply]

    Posted by spreadtrader | June 20, 2009, 11:53 am