Stock Gumshoe
Become a member

Travis Johnson, Stock Gumshoe

Author Bio

Travis Johnson, Stock Gumshoe
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

March 20, 2019

Strategic Wealth Confidential

Flagship investment advisory from Stansberry Pacific, aims to “provide readers from around the world with a wide range of investment ideas, with particular focus on Asia” — often recommends stocks on Hong Kong or Singapore exchanges. Iskyan has been involved with other Stansberry international publications in the past, Tycango previously edited Asian Growth Stocks for […]

February 27, 2019

What’s this “Electro-Wave Inversion” Business from Kent Moors? Are 7.1 million EWI Devices shipping April 1?

I’ve been getting buckets of questions about the latest pitch from Dr. Kent Moors for his Micro Energy Trader ($3,500/year, limited “performance guarantee” refunds possible), so that’s what we’ll dig into today. The pitch is typical of Moors’ stuff, in that he conjures up this idea of an earth-changing new technology that is the province […]

Recent Author Comments

On What's Jeff Siegel talking about when he says, "March 29th, 2019 will be the most profitable day in the history of mankind."
Posted on March 21, 2019
Never heard of it, but that’s obviously an egregiously misleading promise. Nobody makes 89% a day. Nobody even makes 8.9% a day with any consistency. Trading “systems” are touted all the time, I rarely look at them in detail because they’re gen[...]
On Friday File: IIPR Dividend Hike, Boeing Panic, OKTA, DOCU and more...
Posted on March 21, 2019
Which one? Lots of teaser pitches along those lines -- do you have a link or more info from the ad, and info about which newsletter is pitching it?[...]
On Friday File: IIPR Dividend Hike, Boeing Panic, OKTA, DOCU and more...
Posted on March 21, 2019
Trade Note: Well, I'm making a liar of myself already. Situations change and I decided today to add slightly to my DocuSign position. Why is that? Mostly because I think they're continuing to increase the value of their products, particularly wit[...]
On Stansberry Pacific's "Most Impressive Find" Thinkolated -- 670% gains coming?
Posted on March 21, 2019
Thanks for the feedback, composer. Must be an interesting place to live.[...]
On Stansberry Pacific's "Most Impressive Find" Thinkolated -- 670% gains coming?
Posted on March 21, 2019
Fidelity and Ameritrade don't by default offer direct international trading online, you might have to call them if you wish to buy on overseas exchanges (pretty much any broker can trade in HK for you, but they often charge special fees or require you to s[...]
On Crisis and Opportunity
Posted on March 21, 2019
I haven't seen any indication that it formally changed names, but it seems to me that a similar investing theme (and editor) have shifted to what's now Bull and Bust Report[...]
On What's Dave Lashmet's "Biggest Ever Breakthrough for treating Alzheimer's Disease?"
Posted on March 21, 2019
Another failure in Alzheimer's Disease trials... BIIB and Eisai discontinued their late Phase 3 trials because they were "unlikely to meet the primary goal" -- lots of chatter around about how this was the last great hope for those following the "amyloid p[...]
On Motley Fool's "Small company with a $147 billion opportunity" De-teased
Posted on March 20, 2019
Good comment and detail, thanks.[...]
On Alex Green's "No. 1 Stock in 2019" -- $3 "Single Stock Retirement Plan" trading under a "Secret Name"
Posted on March 20, 2019
Yes, please read the article above for details.[...]
On Microblog: Various Promotions that " Promise one Money in Excess of Normal Social Security"
Posted on March 19, 2019
We do see these kinds of adds all the time -- often headlined with the word "Checks" -- "Trump Bonus Checks" or Go to Comment »
On Motley Fool's "Small company with a $147 billion opportunity" De-teased
Posted on March 19, 2019
That was (and remains) a huge story of investor hubris and the fascination with start-up "genius" -- I think the definitive story of Theranos and its implosion is probably Bad Blood by John Carreyrou, haven't read it yet but it has been recommende[...]
On Blanco's " $2 Trillion 'Bio-Switch'" Stock -- he says it's "Hailed as Miracle Drug for 3 Killer Diseases"
Posted on March 19, 2019
Hi Gordie, welcome to our space and thanks for commenting... yes, the promoters often try to add gravitas by including misleading quotes from official-sounding sources, often from blogs and other content on SeekingAlpha or Forbes or similar sites that have[...]
On Ferris' "The Hands-Down, No. 1 Pick of My Career" Pitch
Posted on March 18, 2019
Interesting that you mention the 2/3 number — I was just updating the teaser tracking spreadsheets and noticing how consistently we see 2/3 of the teaser stocks trail the S&P 500.[...]
On Motley Fool's "Small company with a $147 billion opportunity" De-teased
Posted on March 18, 2019
Not quite, but it’s usually an easier path than the typical drug approval process. Diagnostic tests have to be FDA approved, similar to medical devices.[...]
On Motley Fool's "Small company with a $147 billion opportunity" De-teased
Posted on March 18, 2019
In the U.S., they file an S-1 and then follow it up with back-and-forth with the SEC until it is effective, then they can issue shares when they're ready -- sometimes you don't find out until a day or two before the actual offering, but usually for larger [...]
On Hodge teases: "Get Rich on the Tiny Stock That Will Revolutionize Amazon’s Supply Chain"
Posted on March 18, 2019
Amazon is one of the largest corporations by market capitalization, but nowhere near being a large company if your measurement is profit... and Federal taxes are based on profit, not sales. Amazon has earned a TOTAL of less than $20 billion in [...]
On Motley Fool's "Small company with a $147 billion opportunity" De-teased
Posted on March 18, 2019
Don't know the current portfolios, but in the past they were hugely influenced by a few mega-winners (Marvel/Disney, Netflix, Amazon, Priceline/Booking.com, etc.) that posted 5,000%+ gains. Some of the teased stocks that show up as weaker performers on
On Friday File: IIPR Dividend Hike, Boeing Panic, OKTA, DOCU and more...
Posted on March 18, 2019
Yes, Bombardier competes with Embraer in private/corporate jets, mostly, along with Textron (Cessna), and a few more diversified companies also compete in the corporate jet space -- General Dynamics makes the high-end Gulfstreams, Dassault Aviation makes t[...]
On Motley Fool's "Small company with a $147 billion opportunity" De-teased
Posted on March 18, 2019
Not having a great day so far, FYI, down a few percent even since we published around lunchtime. FYI, just looked into what the situation is with insiders, and it turns out that Softbank is the overwhelming institutional owner -- they own about 30% of[...]
On What's Koyfman's "Perfect $1 Pot Stock?"
Posted on March 16, 2019
Interesting, what indicators do you use? I started buying in January of 2018 and added a bunch of times in the $20s and $30s over the course of the past year.[...]

This site and Stock Gumshoe publications and authors do not offer individual financial, investment, medical or other advice. Nothing on this site should ever be considered to be personal advice, research or an invitation to buy or sell any securities. We also make mistakes and bad decisions sometimes, and our reasoning or data should be checked against trusted sources before they inform your investing decisions. Choices regarding how to invest your money or otherwise manage your life or finances are yours, we share only our analysis and opinion and all authors or commenters are individually responsible for the words and opinions they share here. Please read our important disclaimers and policies. Stock Gumshoe is supported by subscribers and by sponsors and advertisers. Stock Gumshoe's employee authors will disclose holdings in any stock covered at time of publication and will not trade in any stocks written about for at least three days after publication. Please see below for complete disclosure, disclaimer and policy information.

Connect with Travis

website designed by Gravity Switch