Author/Editor
Louis Navellier
Publisher
InvestorPlace
Description
Large cap growth newsletter. Entry level letter from Navellier, who recommends a portfolio with monthly buys and sells based on his quantitative grades. Seems to have replaced what was called Navellier’s Blue Chip Growth.
Overall Rating
Rating: 3.6/5. From 129 votes.
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3.7
Rating from 544 votes
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Investment Performance
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Rating: 3.5/5. From 171 votes.
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Rating from 120 votes
Rating: 3.8/5. From 120 votes.
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Rating: 3.9/5. From 124 votes.
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Customer Service
Rating from 129 votes
Rating: 3.6/5. From 129 votes.
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I’ve subscribed over a year and use it for managing an IRA. Primary focus is earnings; earnings growth, earnings surprises, increased margins, dividends etc. Navalier believes if you own the best stocks they will beat the market going up, and drop less than the market going down. In 2008 that strategy was marginally sucessful. He does weed out stocks based on deteriorating fundamentals, not market performance so he tends to miss getting out at the top. He does not attempt to time his trades (you’re on your own) except he will dump a stock immediately after an earnings report. He did not advise selling “good” stocks in a falling market so you had money to reinstate your positions at lower prices, but to just hang on. He misjudged the depth of the bear market as most other gurus have done. Has had few real winners, a triple in Monsanto and Apple, and has ridden his alternative energy and commodity stocks down 30 to 60%. Yet there is an underlying strength to his approach that should comfort and reward a conservative investor.
First, I will say for the money this is a good newsletter. I joined in 2002 when I rolled over my multiple 401k’s. By following the newsletter my portfolio increased by a bit over 125% until 2008, and then it crashed like most everyone else. My issue with this newsletter is that there is no discussion on taking your money out of the market, it is always very upbeat and positive. Many times stocks were held way longer than they should have been and we rarely sold anywhere near the top. I don’t expect anyone to be able to predict the top nor the bottom, however, you would think that an expert like Louis Navellier would be able to come close. The other issue is that you either by all of the stocks which can be as many as 40 -50 stocks, or you try and guess which ones to buy and hope that you are right. Currently we have around 30 stocks which is the lowest that I can remember. But for the few hundred dollars a year that this costs, it is very good fundamental information on stocks and the market factors.
I joined twice with the money back option if it did not work as well as promised. I got my money back both times. The last promise was as I recall for 50% in less than 6 months. It lost about 12%.
Seems the stocks are basically the hot stocks that everyone has already bought. He did nail RIMM while I was a subscriber but the others pulled the RIMM gain down
I read some of Navilliers propaganda which sounded a bit more coherent. The price wasn’t bad and his site has a computerized model where you could look up stocks that he has graded. He puts out his monthly buy list that has stocks based on 3 levels of risk. As your readers point out he continuously has these palpitating stocks where you have only hours to act before the stock soars. I reasoned this was what I had signed up for so I should follow his advice; which I did, once. The stock was a Chinese steel firm (GSI or GIS) that had the government behind it’s consolidation of smaller steel firms. I think you commented on it once. Any way you only had hours left to buy it. I bought it I think around $6.00 and f
or a second or two it jumped to $11.00 or so and then fell back. Wish I had been at my computer when it happened. My error. So I held it awhile thinking it might bounce back as Lewis was still pushing it. I sold it around $4.00.
Then there was another Russian steel company Lewis was pounding his fist on the table about. I forget the spelling but it was something like Metchel. Out of nowhere Russian President Putin one day came out and declared the firm guilty of something, maybe price fixing, and the stock dropped like a stone. Three or four days later Lewis got around to commenting on the stock and took it off the buy list. Then there were times of sloppiness. He would make positive comments on some company and then leave it off his buy list. Mostly, though, he would talk a stock up and nothing would happen. I remember he was forever touting stocks whose earnings were improving saying every month I told you to have faith and yet the stocks sat there yawning at you. This happened month after month. I finally left.
Too rah rah about the market, about his picks, alls always right with the world and nothing can go wrong. I am surprised how Louis Navellier makes a recommendation and then simply moves on if it doesn’t work as if it never happened leaving poor stiffs like me holding the bag (I bought Potash & First Solar, both down by >50%). Even Cramer admits to a mistake once in a while but not here. Aren’t their results audited or can these investment newsletters simply advertise any number for marketing purposes?
I’ve subscribed to Blue Chip on an off for the last several years, the first of which were in up market conditions. Great newsletter for up market conditions if you apply your own sell disciplines. For a while I subscribed to Blue Chip as well as his Emerging Growth newsletters and for identical multiyear periods during the up market I compared the returns of one against the other. The Blue Chip actually beat the Emerging Growth by a few hairs, even though Emerging Growth is about four times as expensive and supposed to offer better returns. For Blue Chip I kept a fake portfolio of one share of each of his conservative, moderate, and aggressive stocks.
He recommends having a proportion of each of these categories in a portfolio. I found the conservative ones did by far the best. Once again this was in the up market cycle that we have now left. For a down market I don’t see much value in his approach. If he actually invests in his own advice into and through the down market, it’s hard to believe he finances his private jet from actual investment returns, as opposed to the proceeds of upbeat newsletter sales with excellent ad copy. It’s a real headbanger because he has a very compelling story that seems very convincing.
Subscribed June 2008 Dow around 12000
I set up a make-believe $100000 account of the 5 top stocks, with $20,000 allocated to each.
July 15 Dow around 11000
Sept 15 Dow around 11000
June 15 +/- CF bot 160.63 Sept 15: 110 current 55
MTL* 51.32, 22, 4.5
MOS 153, 84, 45
POT 230, 154, 91
SYT 63, ? 42
The $100k portfolio is currently worth $35000.
(In July he was still touting MTL at $22)
* He did email later that we should sell MTL when it bounced back to $20, which it did.
July picks did not fare quite as badly, but at least -25%.
I was refunded my subscription money upon request.
I’ve subscribed for a number of years and there is a trick to using the service. His stock choices are OK but you must determine, on your own, your stock/cash position. He will tell you if he thinks the market is weak or certain sectors, he avoided financials, are at risk. So take money off the table, he won’t tell you to but he will give you a heads-up. He does a good job of explaining market influences and trends. He repeatedly said that Citigroup would sell-off assets or die. Now he didn’t tell you to short them but you had the info to figure it out. Look at his top 5 picks, what are they? They are all defensive plays, consumer staples. He’s telling you it’s a weak market. Could he be more explicit? You bet and many won’t like reading between the lines. Bottomline, he’s good in a Bull market but needs an interpreter in a Bear.
I have been a subscriber of the Louis Navellier’s Blue Chip Growth letter for over one year. I subscribed because of the self-proclaimed track record supposedly verified by Mark Hulbert vs. the S&P 500. While some stock recommendations have been good like MCD and BAX, he has buried readers with stocks as conservative as WMT and GIS.He currently has losers of over 20% in NSC,DVN,OXY,PSA,SYT,UNP,WMT,GIS,and bigger losers in APA,ECA,FLR,SYT,HES,FSLR,AGU, and GGB. He uses a alphabet rating system to assign earnings strength among other criteria. Do yourself a favor and save the money on this newsletter. You would at least have fun in Vegas !
I have subscribed to Blue Chip Growth for about three years, probably will not renew. Recommended stocks that I purchased have been more losers than winners. I made money on only one of his picks, Southern Copper (PCU).
What I have found useful is Navellier’s “Portfolio Grader Pro” feature which enables subscribers to plug in the symbol of any stock, not just those he recommends, and get a detailed rating/analysis. This feature also enables you to save sample portfolios to which you can add or delete stocks, portfolios which are then rated and can be checked whenever you wish. I have used his ratings to compare with other ratings services such as Argus and Market Edge to help me make my own decisions about what to buy and sell.
Louis was right about trouble brewing at Merrill Lynch, Citigroup early on. I have found his writings, blogs to be educational.
The Navellier Blue Chip newsletter is excellent in a bull market. But it is hell in a bear market. Since it picks momentum stocks, when the market crashes 30&, they crash 50 or 60%. If you subscribe to this newsletter, you need an ability to see your stock crash 80% and still not lose your confidence in the market.
I have written a review above but the last writer’s comment on Navellier’s Pro Grader reminded me of another questionable tactic he uses. The write ups you can access through his system are from Yahoo as I imangine the graphs are as well. I am also not convinced his computer algorithm’s even exist. It would be pretty easy to assign letter grades to a given stock based on subjective criteria gathered elsewhere. If he doesn’t bother writing his own stock analysis why would he bother with developing some computerized system. Just a thought.
I have to agree with the bad reviews of LN Blue Chip. I subscribed in mid to late 07 for a year with very disappointing results. Reiterating what others have said, he goes for momentum stocks and does not hesitate recommending buying at highs( APD, for example ) The real danger is the potential downfall. I lost quite a bit and this is before the big drops in Sept/Oct of 08 … thankfully I stopped taking his advice before then.
Yup! I subscribe to Blue Chip Growth. Last year I made out like a bandit, this year I gave 2X and more of that back. I have subcribed to many newsletters over the years, the absolute worst being Toby Smith’s Changewave. I subscribe to High Yield Investing and Utility Forecaster, neither of which I have really used. Out of the two I have bought only one stock in 2-3 years. It made me money the past two years. Now it’s tanked. It was a good stock for trading but like so many now the dividend has been eliminated, and I have tanked with it.
OK, since our moderator Travis seems to mention Louie often (I’ve always called him Louie going back to the ’80’s when he shared his service with Jim Collins, I believe!) I respect the heck out of Louie for his rare talents, but he allows his co-editors & their mktg people to either put words in his mouth, or gives too much license to them to exaggerate his calls. I’m sure that Louie knows that the “buck stops at his doorstep,” but I’ve not been in his company since our visit to Lake Tahoe in the late ’90’s, when he had an office/home in north Tahoe (Incline Village.)
It’s been too long ago for me to rate his many publications, but I agree with many of the views above, in that his service works best in roaring bull markets, & NEVER in the markets we’re facing in ’07/’08 & so far in ’09. His idea of simple TA isn’t my idea, but I’m positive that he’s tons smarter in the fundamentals of markets, & I’m sort of puzzled as to why his results c/b so disasterous for so long. This isn’t the Louie that I once knew about, & that’s a shame.
JMHO folks!
The record is clear…just read the other reviews. For me, too much self promotion and hype. I have been a subscriber for 1 year and will not renew.
I subscribed to BCG several months ago, and have not been very impressed with Navellier’s picks. To be fair, however, the markets haven’t been kind to anyone in the industry over the past +12 months. So maybe he’ll have better success in the future. I won’t know, however, because I will not be renewing my subscription. I did get a few ideas from BCG, but got nothing that I made any money with.
I will say, though, that their customer service was pretty good for me. I had a double billing to my credit card, and they fixed it the problem for me in a matter of a couple hours, and added three months to my service for free. So that was nice. But at the end of the day, these services are all about the stock picks. And Navellier’s picks just haven’t impressed me during my subscription period.
I would recommend to anyone interested in this newsletter to look around at some of the other investment newsletters first before subscribing. But, at the same time, I would also not recommend subscribing to any of the investment newsletters. I would recommend, on the other hand, making your own investment decisions. With that in mind, I’ll share the best stock tip I ever got: Don’t listen to stock tips.
Good luck to us all.
I subscribed in the late 90’s and Louis Navallier made me rich — until the market tanked in 2001. He never said “sell”. He repeatedly said to “hold on. Our stocks have great earnings.” And so on.
My riches disappeared along with my respect for Navallier.
I didn’t save any of those newsletters so I can’t give you any solid examples of his picks, other than JDSU, which peaked at $153, and now sells for about a quarter a share (reverse split adjusted). He never said to sell it.
I was foolish to put so much faith in this man. Don’t you be foolish too. My dreams of financial independence were crushed.
I have been a subscriber for about a year. In June 2008 I fired my money manager who lost me tons of money. I subscribed to bluechipgrowth. What I do is build 3 watchlists, Conservative, Moderate and Risk on my platform. Then I sort the stocks by points lost or gained. I buy the reddest one on the list, sometimes I wait a few days. I never buy on a big green day and always buy on a big red day. I would say 80% of the time his picks go up by following this method. I have made 50k since June doing this.
I will renew.
I have subscribed a couple of times over the last 5 years. My biggest problem with BCG is that it’s philosophy is to stay fully invested at all times, and has no hedging or downside protection. As a result, in bear markets like the current one, as well as the 2001 – 2003 bear market, you tend to get whacked. Although I side-stepped most of those losses, I still didn’t like the fact that he offers no downside protection or bear market strategy. Its just buy, buy, buy (dollar cost average). I have never bought into the Wall St brain-washing that you should stay invested and dollar cost average because in the long run stocks always go up.