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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

Sheesh, Netflix (NFLX) reports a great quarter, enthusiasm for AI remains high, and we get new record highs for almost everything again this week. Things were especially lusty for most of the big tech names, including AI darling NVIDIA (NVDA) and Alphabet (GOOGL) in our portfolio, but also Microsoft (MSFT), which just bumped up against […]

Sounds like the name of the world’s strangest law firm, right? Car accident?  Call Dino, Berk, McCormick & Acacia, justice will be served and we’ll make you rich! Maybe not.  But those are the things that caught my eye this week — that’s Dino Polska, some more mild updates on Berkshire Hathaway, a slouching dividend […]

I’m getting this Friday File out to you a little earlier than usual, because I’m bringing one of my kids to Detroit for the first Lions home playoff game in 30 years (well, I’m trying to bring him, at least… crossing my fingers that the weather allows planes to land in Detroit tomorrow). The city […]

This article was originally published on September 18, when we first saw this Teeka Tiwari ad circulating… it is still in very heavy rotation, and still has a “September 2023” date, so the ad has not been updated. What follows has also not been updated, but questions are still rolling in so hopefully this will […]

Here’s the lead-in from an ad for Nick Hodge’s Foundational Profits ($199/yr) that a few readers asked me about this week, his latest subject line for these ads was, “The Little-Known Mining Stock Everyone Wants”: “The ‘King-Maker’ of Lithium Has Already Made Me and My Readers 582% Gains “Now It’s Time to Think Even Bigger…. […]

January… ’tis the season for forecasting, and for planning… which means it’s the best time of the year to pretend you know what’s going to happen. Or better yet, to argue with other people on CNBC about what you’re sure is going to happen. And that means we should note, if for no other reason […]

Stock-picking “upgrade” newsletter from Curzio Research, focused on finding winning artificial intelligence stocks, particularly focused on smaller companies.

Entry-level investment newsletter from Manward Press, with a monthly investment idea and further commentary now based on “the latest opportunities within Manward’s proprietary Modern Asset Portfolio (MAP).” Gilani took over and revamped the newsletter strategy in late 2023 when Manward founder Andrew Snyder left, so this is very different from the previous Manward Letter which […]

And now it’s time to give some credit where it’s due… what were the most successful teaser picks of 2023? Each year, we spend a few minutes highlighting the worst idea from the investment newsletter world when we name our “Turkey of the Year” at Thanksgiving… but as the year comes to an end, we […]

Every year we highlight the “Turkey of the Year” at Thanksgiving time, calling attention to the worst performing teaser stock picks of the previous twelve months… so it only seems fair to highlight the best picks, too, and that’s what this time of year is all about… between Christmas and New Year’s Day, when Stock […]

This is how a recent ad from Louis Navellier begins… “For the First Time in Over 40 Years… “Wall Street’s ‘King of Quants’ Reveals His Secret $6 BILLION AI Blueprint “‘If you apply my “Secret Blueprint” to the red-hot AI market, the next 12 months could be extremely lucrative… even if you’ve only got $500 […]

Recent Author Comments

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

Good perspective, thanks.[...]

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On Oxford's "Why Argentina's New President Has Me Eyeing This Investment" Pitch

Great feedback, thanks![...]

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On More Advertising for the Lock Box

Hope it works out for you![...]

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On Microblog: Motley Fool: AI Playbook special sale

Haven't seen any new ads from them recently, but they've been selling an "AI Disruption Playbook" for years n[...]

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On Answers: "The Pentagon is going ALL IN on this Tiny AI Firm" (Three "Satellite AI" stocks)

What do you like about KOPN? See some growth emerging from their defense business, perhaps?Altucher flogged that one like crazy with some very misleading promises that it would be involved with the Apple VisionPro. Don't know if he has given up on that [...]

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On More Advertising for the Lock Box

Rough start for DV -- mild miss on this first earnings report since I bought, and a more significant reduction in the forecasted revenue for 2024.Not cataclysmic, no sign the business is fundamentally broken, but a rough beginning for this one in the[...]

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On Answers: "The Pentagon is going ALL IN on this Tiny AI Firm" (Three "Satellite AI" stocks)

Thanks Stacy![...]

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On Porter & Whitney's "New Form of Money" -- What's "The Secret U.S. Currency No One Told You About?"

He said they were doing some work on a potential acquisition in Canada. The big private ones are mostly in ag or energy to one degree or another, and he doesn't like bidding wars for public companies... but you never know.[...]

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On Porter & Whitney's "New Form of Money" -- What's "The Secret U.S. Currency No One Told You About?"

I think that was the pitch for selling puts and covered calls, no? Eifrig has been doing that for a decade or so.[...]

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On Porter & Whitney's "New Form of Money" -- What's "The Secret U.S. Currency No One Told You About?"

No promises, but a little birdie tells me that Stansberry in the past has recommended:CME LNSTY CBOE ICE BOLSY[...]

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On Porter & Whitney's "New Form of Money" -- What's "The Secret U.S. Currency No One Told You About?"

Care to elaborate?[...]

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On Microblog: Oil and gas royalty investments

That teaser ad is getting pretty long in the tooth now, they haven't updated it since February of 2023... the primary stock they're pitching is Permian Basin Royalty Trust (PBT), which I have a lot of concerns about (primarily their reliance on net profits[...]

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On Friday File: Good Cloud Growth, Reassuring Underwriting

Thanks for the perspective... Mission Technologies is a tiny part of the business right now, though it is growing much faster than the shipyards.[...]

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On Friday File: Good Cloud Growth, Reassuring Underwriting

Berkshire quarter out -- crazy cash balance approaching $190 billion now.And a somewhat surprising sale of more than 10% of the Apple stake in the quarter... probably responsible, given how massive that position is now, but still a little surprising.[...]

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On Answers for Ray Blanco's "Did A.I. Just Find The Hidden Cure To Cancer?" Tease

As an actual business, it will be at least several years before we can really guess at how much money they could make as drugs are developed using their technology and make it Through clinical trials.As a biotech or AI story stock, though, anything[...]

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On Answers for Ray Blanco's "Did A.I. Just Find The Hidden Cure To Cancer?" Tease

Thanks... that's a tough business, personalized immunotherapy that has to be manufactured individually for each patient. Maybe part of the challenge is the history of companies who failed in their attempts at building similar businesses over the past deca[...]

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On Answers for Ray Blanco's "Did A.I. Just Find The Hidden Cure To Cancer?" Tease

I don't use those particular funds, but I outsource most of my biotech/pharma stock picking to funds as well... can't argue with that. It's important to be aware of the areas where you don't have the background or deep industry knowledge (or interest, eve[...]

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On "Trade of the Decade" 10-Bagger Picks teased by Junior Resource Speculator

Which ones do you like?I write about mostly what people ask about, and what newsletters tease in their promos... sometimes they're more sensible long term ideas, but certainly lots of speculations out there, too.I guess it's easier to get the bloo[...]

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On "This tiny Canadian A.I. stock could be the next Nvidia" -- what's Motley Fool's "Huge A.I. Stock Alert"

For this article? Because it doesn't match the clues at all.In general? Mostly just because POET has been a "story stock" for a decade but hasn't ever built into a real business, and I have no idea when or if they ever will. They have consistently [...]

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On Reveal (Updated): What's the "$3 AI Wonder Stock" teased by Ross Givens?

The spending is so wild in this space that the giant cash-rich folks seem most likely to end up the leaders, but we'll see. SOUN has issued new common (and/or preferred) equity for six quarters in a row, total of about $120 million since mid-2022.[...]

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