Stock Gumshoe

Does calling something an “index” automatically make it sound safe? That seems to be part of the premise for the recent swath of ads from the Oxford Club for what they’re calling their “Recession-Proof White Cap Index.”

The ad, from Louis Basenese, is about a new investment newsletter service that they’re calling the White Cap Report. They go to some length to explain that their proprietary screening system allows them to find the stocks, usually smaller capitalization stocks with high growth rates, that will be the big winners. And he claims that they will release the “index” on January 2.

I don’t know what they’re talking about in terms of “releasing” this index, but from the looks of it they’re really just selling another newsletter — this one appears to have the normal price of $150 a year, though it’s of course “on sale” right now as they try to get it off the ground.

But more importantly, for us, Louis spends a fair amount of time in the letter teasing us about some of the picks this “system” or “index” has identified. He also gives some examples of past picks that would have met this criteria, like China Life and Intuitive Surgical, so we know that they can at least identify past performers — can they do the far more difficult thing, identify stocks that will perform in the future? We’ll see.

And no need to subscribe to this new “White Cap Report” if you’re just curious about what their top picks are right now — the Gumshoe is on the case, so let’s see what they’re teasing … Read the rest of this entry »

Alexander Green at the Oxford Club has been sending out a series of emails touting not an investment newsletter, but his own recently published book: The Gone Fishin’ Portfolio. I’ve heard from a lot of you that this is of interest, though I haven’t read the book, so I thought I’d take a gander at the email.

The interesting thing is perhaps not that he has this book that advocates what I assume is a fairly conservative asset allocation and dividend reinvestment portfolio (that’s what comes to mind if you’re goin’ fishin’ — certainly no active trading and not a lot of individual stock holdings, at least not small or vulnerable stocks). No, what’s interesting is the ad that’s wrapped around this push for you to buy the book.

You see, the subject line of the ad doesn’t promise you yet another investing book that will slowly get you rich — it promises that there is another bank to fail after Lehman Brothers.

And so far, that prediction — or at least, the specific company they must be referring to — has been quite wrong, this is one of the banks that we can be pretty sure now will not fail, even if Green’s “blockbuster” revelations in his book shake them to their foundations (for which I’ll not hold my breath).

This is how the ad teases this point:
Read the rest of this entry »

I don’t know exactly when this email might have first circulated, but it touts a stock that the folks at the Oxford Club believe should be the top grower, and best performer, of 2008.

Naturally, they’d like you to subscribe to receive their special report — it’ll cost you $79 a year, which may or may be your cup of tea. Oxford Club Communique, their newsletter that you get when you join the club, does indeed have a good long term record. Not outlandishly good, but they have outperformed the Wilshire 5000, on average, over many years.

But of course, if you just want the name of their “one stock” that will be the best this year … read on! Read the rest of this entry »