I was born on 6 August 1956 in San Francisco, California to Janet and (the late) Richard Hovis.
I grew up in Santa Monica, California where I attended elementary, junior high school, and high school (graduating in 1974), in addition to involvement in sports and recreation (Little League +, the Boy’s Club ++). Further, it was in elementary school – St. Augustine’s By-the -Sea Parish School that I found, and made the choice to truly journey with God.
I attended Arizona State University from 1974 to 1977 – seeking to become an architect, however, I was not accepted, and, as such, I graduated with a Liberal Arts degree.
Upon graduation from Arizona State University, I attended Cal Poly San Luis Obispo and studied City and Regional Planning at the Master’s level. I successfully completed one (1) year in a two (2) year program – I did not complete the Master’s degree in City and Regional Planning – due to personal reasons.
I returned to Santa Monica where I started (October 1979) my career as graphic designer with Exxon Company, USA. I spent five years with Exxon Company, USA.
While working with Exxon Company, USA I was accepted into architectural school – Sci-Arc in Southern California, however, I did not attend preferring to stay with Exxon..
In 1982 I married Laura Flosi and in April 1983 we had our one and only child – Lauren Alain Hovis – a gift from God.
We moved to Phoenix, Arizona in 1984 from Los Angeles, where I went to work as a graphic designer with Kitchell CEM (from 1985 -1987).
From 1987 – 1995 I was an independent contractor, and a registered representative in mortgage finance, financial management, graphic design, and drafting.
Further, I attended the University of Phoenix and successfully obtained a Master’s in Business Administration (MBA) in 1982.
I was also a member of the Scottsdale Jaycees, where I became very involved in community events and projects.
In 1994, I accepted a cartography position with the Defense Mapping Agency in Reston, Virginia. As such, I relocated from Phoenix to Reston.
In 1998, I was accepted and worked as a Visual Information Officer with the Central Intelligence Agency. In 2002, I worked as a Support Officer until my retirement (due to a need for shoulder surgery) in September 2018.
Away from my Federal Government service, I have been involved in various organizations and activities in Northern Virginia.
In November of 2011, I married Rebecca Ouellette in Santa Monica, California. I reside in San Tan Valley, AZ with my two hamster - Jess and Timothy, our fish, our lizard - RJ Lizard., and our cats - Pearl and Grey.
As to hobbies, I enjoy playing sports, attending sporting events, mentoring individuals from financial management to hamsters, building models, photography, travel, multimedia design, managing partner for RJ Hamster, and jazz – smooth jazz to a samba or a bossa nova.
Love and God Bless,
Peter – aka RJ Hamster Jo hi
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“Every month is a chapter in your story—and this one has added depth, wisdom, and resilience to who you are.”
You made it through January, and that’s worth celebrating. Whether it felt triumphant or just survivable, you showed up and did your best. This weekend, give yourself permission to rest, reflect, and prepare for the month ahead. You’ve earned this break, and you deserve to enter February feeling renewed and hopeful.MORE INSPIRATION
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The big news that created a stir in high tech and finance in the last 48 hours was rumors and speculation that Elon Musk is gearing up to merge all – or at least two – of his companies together.
The two scenarios that are being discussed:
Tesla – SpaceX – xAI all merge into one public company.
SpaceX merges with xAI into one company.
Years ago, Musk talked about creating one holding company, with the likely name of X, but nothing had been said about that recently.
The discussion since the beginning of the year had been focused on preparations for taking SpaceX public this year, perhaps as early as June. But something clearly shifted this week as a larger possible merger has received a lot of airtime.
As more details emerge, I’ll probably dig a little deeper on this topic next week.
Musk’s projects and companies are literally some of the most impactful contributions to humanity and economic growth in history. They are certainly worth our attention.
Have a great weekend,
Jeff
Bye-Bye, Biotech Winter
Jeff and Team,
Jeff, I have been following you for quite some time now. Started out before the pandemic and got burned like most in the biotechs. So much promise and hope, just withered on the vine. Cleaned up and rebalanced, was so excited when you came back.
I am a big fan of Musk’s companies and see them as a complete stack, not individual companies working in silos. You may have been a part of that.
I played with all the frontier AIs and have found Grok to be the best to suit my personality. I know that sounds weird, but if you have challenged all of them, you can feel the difference.
I frequently copy The Bleeding Edge and all of your research into Grok to help me learn more and dive deeper. It has been helpful professionally as an ER doc, personally for issues in the home, and with things like crypto and taxes, as well as how to deal with reframing and dealing with issues with in-laws. Very positive.
I use tonight’s Bleeding Edge and went a bit deeper on biotech. Just wonder what you think about the five companies in the Grok discussion that I have attached.
I would also like to hear what you think about the Musk stack of Tesla, Optimus, Starlink, Neuralink, X, xAI, and how they will all go together. My bet is in the next year, this group of companies will explode into or onto something nobody ever expected or even saw coming. In deep conversations, Grok agrees with me!!!
(Brownstone Unlimited, and so happy to be here).
– Dan K.
Hi Dan,
It’s great to have you with us as an Unlimitedmember. And thanks for the feedback, it has been great to be back and re-energized on my mission and vision for Brownstone Research.
Since the time that you wrote in, I’m very happy to say that I have re-launched coverage of the biotech sector with Early Stage Trader. Like you, it was painful to see the biotech market shrivel up due to the pandemic policies. The four-year biotech winter made no sense at all and was detrimental to advancing important therapies for a wide range of diseases.
Happily, those days are over, and I’ll be increasing biotech-related investment research in The Near Future Report (large-cap biotech), Exponential Tech Investor(think picks and shovels, IP, devices, and AI), and Early Stage Trader which is exclusively focused on early stage biotech companies in the pre-clinical or clinical stages with forthcoming catalysts that create high probability trading opportunities.
For anyone interested in learning more about the new and improved Early Stage Trader – our biotech-focused trading advisory – you can go here to catch the replay of our relaunch event from earlier this week.
As for the list you reference in your Grok conversation, I’m unable to provide any personalized investment advice on these companies, and I can’t perform my typical in-depth research on all these companies in The Bleeding Edge. So, I’ll just provide some general comments…
One of the companies I can’t mention, as it is already in our model portfolio in The Near Future Report. You – and any other Near Future Report subscribers – can find my full research on that company on our website right here.
As for Eli Lilly, I like the company, but don’t like the valuation right now. I simply believe that there are better companies to allocate to. Intellia and Denali are also two companies that I like, but I would need to perform a full analysis – and also do some work on valuation – before I could offer a strong position on either company.
As for Musk and his “stack” of technologies embedded within his various companies, there have been some developments in the last 48 hours that make this a very timely issue.
Musk has long alluded to a conglomerate model – most likely named X – to hold all of his businesses. But in the last two years or so, it hasn’t been mentioned at all, and the clear intentions to take SpaceX public in 2026 seemed to suggest those plans had changed. Musk, it appeared, would have two publicly traded companies and keep his artificial intelligence business, xAI, private.
This actually made a lot of sense. After all, xAI is developing artificial general intelligence (AGI), which confers an incredible competitive advantage. Not having to disclose the inner workings of xAI in SEC filings would be advantageous. Keeping xAI private for now is the smart move.
Prior to these merger talks, the silos that made sense to me were:
xAI – the home of frontier AI models, AGI, and ultimately ASI. X remains the most important social network of real-time information and analysis, critical as a dataset for AI models. This is where it would make sense to merge Neuralink for brain-computer interface technology(which is all AI).
Tesla – this remains the home for energy/transportation/robotics/autonomy initiatives. The Boring Company could be rolled up into Tesla, and Tesla’s free cash flows could be used to build out the next generation of transportation infrastructure, which will be very capital-intensive (think tunneling and perhaps hyperloop technology). Musk will also lean more heavily into energy production. Large solar production will be primary, but I can’t help but think that he will jump into fusion at some stage (power of the sun). The best way would be to acquire an existing fusion company with an engineering team that he really likes and build from there.
SpaceX – all things space-bound. Rockets, orbital data centers, orbital internet infrastructure, next-generation propulsion technology, and, of course, space exploration (and potentially resource mining in space).
Another framework that is useful and fun for us to use is that all of his technologies are relevant in the context of making the human race a multiplanetary species:
Tesla for EVs to roam the surface of Mars
The Boring Company to dig tunnels for habitation under the surface of Mars
Optimus for labor in the harsh Martian environment
AGI to assist in operating the Martian outpost and providing what we can think of as an extraterrestrial civilization operating system on Mars
SpaceX for transportation to the Moon and Mars
SpaceX for mining resources extraterrestrially
Neuralink for real-time communications with computing systems in space and on Mars
Tesla for the power of the sun (solar and perhaps fusion in the long run)
xAI for orbital data centers (note: there are also some rumors of possibly merging xAI into SpaceX, given the interest in orbital data centers)
SpaceX for next-generation propulsion to get to Mars, and eventually other places in our solar system
Either way, Musk’s companies are destined to be the most important companies of our time. And combined, they will be the most valuable group of companies in history, which I believe will become worth tens of trillions of dollars.
No matter what happens, you can be sure that I’ll be on top of it with updates in The Bleeding Edge and in our model portfolios.
Love how you’re using Grok, really cool, proactive, and a great way to engage this incredible technology. And you are right, Grok is the best of them.
The media is saying this AI boom is like the dot-com bubble all over again. However, they’re all ignoring the much bigger risk. Click here for the full story.
Tracking the Trend of Data Centers in Space
Hi Jeff, as a longtime subscriber, I enjoy your engineering insight. However, since Google launched the idea of data centers in space, I would have expected that you would address the idea and research the most capable companies to engineer such a space system and provide essential components: radiation-hardened chips/servers, optical communications, ground stations, physical/ cybersecurity, besides satellites and rockets. As I imagine only big and certified companies will do this, I think it fits perfectly in the Near Futuretheme.
Regards.
– Wolfgang B.
Hi Wolfgang,
This has definitely been a keen area of interest of mine as an emerging growth market to help solve some of the challenges and expenses of powering and cooling data centers here on Earth.
We also already have several companies in The Near Future Report and Exponential Tech Investor portfolios that will almost certainly feed into the orbital data center industry once it takes off. These companies range from semiconductor manufacturing to semiconductors, cybersecurity, and lasers/optics.
One thing to keep in mind, however, is that volumes of things like optical components or radiation-hardened semiconductors will be relatively low, especially in the next couple of years.
We can use Starlink as an example. Despite years of launching Starlink satellites, there are “only” about 9,400 in orbit today. While it’s the largest satellite constellation in history, the actual amount of semiconductor and optical content is rather small because there are only 9,400 satellites – not 9 million or 90 million satellites.
Gross margins for radiation-hardened components are typically much higher in the 70–80% range, but the volumes are much lower. This is why I didn’t include orbital data centers in my investment thesis for the companies in our model portfolios.
The key gating factor for the growth in orbital data centers is one company – SpaceX. Once SpaceX gets its Starship into commercial operations and launch costs per kilogram down to around $200, the economics make a lot of sense to launch data server satellites into orbit.
2026 will mark the beginning of this trend, and I am confident Starship launch costs will drop to attractive levels no later than 2027, so we’ll see a lot more investment next year in orbital compute.
This is definitely an industry we’ll track closely.
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Sharing the next part of our annual Report Card… Controversial grades… Our grading criteria… Reviewing our big-picture newsletters…
Our annual Report Card is often the most controversial Digest we write each year…
This year didn’t disappoint.
Subscriber Alex K. wrote in, “Is this the new grading scale where everyone passes?”
Harsh.
And Steve D. wrote, “Oh well. Keep the grades high. Book some more business.”
Ouch!
Today, I (Stansberry Research Publisher Matt Weinschenk) am continuing with the second installment of our annual Report card. I started last week by reviewing our Portfolio Solutions products.
A few subscribers, like Alex and Steve, wrote in to say I was too easy on TheQuant Portfolio and Stansberry’sForever Portfolio. I gave them both C grades for 2025, even though they trailed their benchmarks. (No one disputed the A+ The Total Portfolio earned for 2025.)
You might be surprised to learn that I welcome messages like Alex’s and Steve’s.
Actually… I love them. They let me know I’m doing my job.
We’ve been doing our Report Card for 20 years now. The purpose is to hold ourselves accountable and provide you with transparency on how our services have done.
We take this seriously at Stansberry Research. We’re thrilled with the outstanding success of many of our services. And if we’re not performing up to par, you deserve to know it.
But to me, the letter grades I give each service are the least important part of the Report Card.
Yes, the grades get all the attention. And yes, the editors who take home A’s and A+’s enjoy some bragging rights around the office.
But what’s far more important, we give you the critical numbers we use in evaluating our performance.
Stansberry Research’s guiding principle since our founding has been to provide you, our subscriber, with all the information we’d want if our roles were reversed.
The Report Card honors that promise.
We give you the average return for all the services’ recommendations… the annualized return for those picks… the win rate… and a relevant benchmark.
Now, to be clear, I stand by my judgments.
As I explained in last week’s Digest, TheQuant Portfolio and Stansberry’sForever Portfolio focus on quality stocks. Specifically, they hold stocks with high profit margins, free cash flows, and other fundamental measures.
And unfortunately, in 2025, high-quality stocks trailed low-quality stocks. A study by investment bank UBS shows that since March, low-quality stocks have beaten high-quality stocks by 50 percentage points.
Considering the market refused to offer them any opportunities, I think the Forever Portfolio and Quant Portfolio did just fine.
And I don’t want these portfolios to stray from quality stocks. I would have judged them more harshly if they had strayed from their mandates.
Can you imagine something called Stansberry’s Forever Portfolio deciding it needed to add a meme stock?
So these portfolios earned C grades because they did what they were supposed to do. And if they keep doing it, I wholeheartedly believe things will work out.
Again, the grades are entirely mine. I hope you agree with my judgments. But in the end, if you read my explanation… look at the numbers… and decide I’ve gone soft… that’s OK. Disagree. Roast me. I want to hear all about it. Let me know at feedback@stansberryresearch.com.
This is all about full track-record transparency. I’m grateful for subscribers like Alex and Steve who take the time to dig into the data and form their own judgments.
Today, I’m reviewing our big-picture newsletters…
These newsletters cover big topics, big stocks, and they generally welcome a wide range of investors looking for well-researched financial information.
We tend to offer these newsletters at affordable prices – prices much lower than their quality would suggest – so they’re accessible to anyone ready to improve their investment returns.
I have to say, I was a bit surprised by the results. At Stansberry Research, we don’t chase wild gains. We tend to be careful. Measured.
I fully admit our portfolios run the risk of overlooking the hottest stocks in the market because these stocks tend to be the most overvalued and risky.
So in a galloping bull market like this – one rewarding businesses with promises of future growth and less in the way of fundamentals – I thought we’d be left behind.
In most cases, we were not.
The numbers look especially good when you take a long-term view, which is how you build real wealth. But again, you can judge for yourself.
Unlike the portfolios I reviewed last week, these are not fully allocated portfolios. As such, they don’t have annual returns that perfectly map onto their benchmarks. But over 20 years, we’ve developed what we believe is the best way to grade these portfolios.
Here’s how it works…
Our Grading Criteria for Traditional Publications
Before you get started, I encourage you to read this explanation of the criteria we use…
It will help you understand what we’re looking for from our analysts and editors. It should also help you understand the high standards that we set for all our publications. As I said, the grades are mine – no one else’s. I generally provide context to support my decisions. But there’s no fudging… no excuses… and no hiding from the results.
First, we aim for complete accuracy…
This involves tracking the exact entry and exit points. Please keep in mind… we’re tracking our results (not yours, which is impossible for us to do). We’re not saying these results represent the exact prices at which you could have gotten into or out of an investment. Rather, they represent the value of our insights at the time we publish our material. We use the closing price from the day prior to publication for our entry price… and for our exit price, we use the closing price from the day after we recommend closing the position or hit our stop loss.
Next, we evaluate each publication’s performance by focusing on three key metrics…
The most important metric for us is the win rate. Our traditional newsletters make regular recommendations – in most cases, each month. Their model portfolios are essentially a list of recommendations – not an actual portfolio where you invest in an entire pool of risk-weighted securities. We can’t know if subscribers act on every recommendation or try to cherry-pick the ideas they think will work out best. In most cases, we bet that it’s the latter.
That makes the editor’s ability to pick more winners than losers an important criterion. This tells subscribers the likelihood that an editor’s picks will end up profitable. When you follow an editor with a high win rate, you should stick with them.
Next are the average and annualized returns…
We compare how each recommendation (not the entire list of recommendations at once) performs against its benchmark over its exact holding period. (That benchmark is the S&P 500 Index, unless otherwise noted.) This is perhaps the most confusing metric for subscribers to understand. But we think it’s the most accurate way to compare results. Since we’re making recommendations throughout the evaluation period, we can’t compare the newsletters with the S&P 500 over the full period… Not all recommendations were made at the start date.
Likewise, we don’t close all our positions at the same time. That’s why you will see a different number for the benchmark on most publications rather than a flat rate of return for the evaluation period. By looking at the average gains for a publication, you can determine what kind of returns to expect from following that editor’s recommendations.
In investing, annualized returns show what would happen if you were to repeat a trade’s performance (up or down) throughout the year. This allows us to compare different strategies over different periods.
For these newsletters, I’m going to share the performance over one year and five years. And since these newsletters tend to have longer-term investment horizons, I’m going to grade them based on five-year returns.
So let’s get started…
Stansberry’s Investment Advisory: B
It was a great year for Whitney Tilson and the Stansberry’s Investment Advisory team. Of the 12 picks made in 2025, seven have been winners, for an average annualized gain of 33.8%… compared with 24.9% for the benchmark S&P 500 Index.
Over the five-year period, Stansberry’s Investment Advisory had a positive win rate at 56% and only slightly underperformed its benchmark.
But I believe the Investment Advisory carries significantly less risk than the S&P 500.
You see, the Investment Advisory model portfolio holds many insurance companies, which we believe are the “best businesses in the world.” They aren’t fast-moving stocks, but over time, they reward you. For example, Investment Advisory holdings W.R. Berkley (WRB) and American Financial (AFG) are up 623% and 483%, respectively.
The portfolio also has high-quality, best-of-the-best stocks (which it labels “Global Elite Businesses”) like Coca-Cola Consolidated (COKE) and McDonald’s (MCD).
Now, our grading scale works on what we call “vintages.” Each year measures the positions open in that year. These positions are tracked until they close.
So the Investment Advisory‘s five-year returns are being dragged down by 2022’s picks – mainly two large losses in the semiconductor sector. The model portfolio stopped out of Applied Materials (AMAT) and Intel (INTC) for losses of 45% and 38%, respectively.
The team was onto something with semiconductor stocks. But they were early.
It’s also worth noting that our methodology doesn’t give credit for stocks recommended before 2021 that the portfolio still holds. And there are a lot of them.
For example, gold producer Barrick Mining (B) is up 114% since the team recommended it. In 2025 alone, it went up 181%.
CBOE Global Markets (CBOE), the leading U.S. options exchange, is up 215% since its initial recommendation and 189% over the five years ending in 2025… Credit-card company American Express (AXP) is up 492% since its initial recommendation and 225% over the past five years… And software giant Microsoft (MSFT) is up 1,550% since its initial recommendation and 126% over the past five years.
The five-year track record, as calculated, gets no credit for those returns.
If you add it all up, since inception an incredible 27 years ago, Stansberry’s Investment Advisory has beaten its benchmark by 3.2% per year. That’s a rate and time period I believe to be unmatched in the industry. That’s why it earns a B for this year’s Report Card.
True Wealth: B
In many ways, True Wealth runs counter to Stansberry’s Investment Advisory.
Editor Brett Eversole focuses on big trends. He looks from the “top down” to find the countries, sectors, and currencies set to move.
Brett will readily tell you he doesn’t spend his time trying to evaluate the financials or science behind a single biotechnology company. Instead, he looks for when biotechnology stocks as a whole should get their due. That’s why he recommended the iShares Biotechnology Fund (IBB) in September. It’s already up 21%.
If you isolate True Wealth‘s recent performance, Brett has been killing it.
In 2024, Brett made 13 recommendations. Ten are up, for an annualized gain of 31%, versus 15% for the benchmark S&P 500.
In 2025, Brett did even better. He recommended 13 plays, with nine winners. They returned 43% annualized gains versus 16% for the benchmark.
But Brett still has to work through tough 2022 and 2023 returns, when markets whipsawed and made it tough on trend followers. With a 58% win rate and annualized returns just slightly below the benchmark over the past five years, True Wealth earns a B.
Commodity Supercycles: A+
Commodity Supercycles, led by Whitney Tilson along with Brian Tycangco and Bill McGilton, aims to do what it says in the name: capture huge gains when commodities go on their inevitable tear higher.
That’s happening right now.
The AI boom has rewarded energy and commodity investors. And Whitney and the team have been there to capitalize on it.
The Commodity Supercycles model portfolio includes nuclear stocks like BWX Technologies (BWXT) and Vistra (VST), up 139% and 82%, respectively.
It also has renewable plays like GE Vernova (GEV), up 99%, and Ormat Technologies (ORA), up 83%… traditional oil-rights picks like Viper Energy (VNOM), up 180%, and Black Stone Minerals (BSM), up 116%… and pipeline companies like Kinder Morgan (KMI), which is up 96%.
Those were all added to the portfolio within the last five years.
And then, of course, there are the metals. What a time it has been for metals.
Copper play Ero Copper (ERO) is up 154% since September. Kinross Gold (KGC) is up 341%. And the Sprott Physical Silver Trust (PSLV) is up 335%.
I could go on.
Commodity Supercycles demonstrates so much of the value of Stansberry Research.
We’ve published it for 21 years, through good commodity markets and bad… with real experts who focus on the industry and know its ins, outs, and opportunities.
So when commodities catch fire, we’re already in place. You know you can come to a trusted source to get the best research.
With a win rate of 66% and sextuple the annualized returns of its benchmark Bloomberg Commodity Index over the past five years, Commodity Supercycles earns a well-deserved A+.
Stansberry Innovations Report: C
Stansberry Innovations Report is designed to capture growth… to find the best technology innovations and the right way to play them in the market.
It’s hard to complain about the returns editors Eric Wade and John Engel have made on their stock positions (that is to say, not including those from the “Crypto Corner” feature).
They’ve been all over some of the big trends in tech and have seen returns like 505% on Ciena (CIEN) and 297% on Lumentum (LITE), both companies that make fiber-optic networking equipment. They posted a 365% gain on music streamer Spotify Technology (SPOT), even adjusting for taking profits on half the position. And they’re up 121% on Google parent Alphabet (GOOGL).
Over the past five years, the Innovations Reportmodel portfolio had average gains of 25% and 16.8% annualized.
However, when your sector is the hot one, you have to perform. And while the Innovations Report has informed readers and put them into some big hits, it just about matched the benchmark S&P 500. That’s why the Innovations Report earns a C this year.
There’s a thin line between average and exceptional. With just one more Spotify or Ciena, the Innovations Report could jump up a letter grade or two.
If we look at the Innovations Report since its inception in 2018, we see a clear A-level publication. The average gain of 47.5% outpaces the 38.2% earned by the S&P 500 by nearly double digits.
The InnovationsReport also includes several crypto recommendations, which we look at separately due to their volatility. Here, Eric mainly sticks to the big “blue chip” cryptos that are easy to buy and hold for a long time.
The five-year time period hit the crypto portfolio hard. While the model portfolio is up more than 750% on bitcoin and more than 1,000% on Ethereum, both of these fall outside the five-year window of analysis.
Instead, smaller cryptos like Polygon and VeChainThor have declined from their 2021 highs. For positions recommended within the last five years, the average gain is only 1%.
Retirement Millionaire: B
Written by Dr. David “Doc” Eifrig and his team, Retirement Millionaire aims to set its readers up for a healthy and wealthy retirement.
We don’t want big risks. We want steady, safe gains over time to build a massive nest egg.
Doc also shares his ideas on healthy living. It’s impossible to measure this advice with numbers. But Doc has often shared insights that become the proven opinion of the medical community years later. For example, he was ahead of the curve warning about the threats of persistent inflammation.
Over the past five years, Doc has underperformed his benchmark, the S&P 500. I personally think that benchmark is a little aggressive for Doc’s conservative style, so I give some extra grace here. But Doc loves a challenge.
What’s striking is his win rate. In a game where a 55% win rate can make you rich, 63% of Doc’s picks over the last five years have made money.
Doc’s track record suffers from the same measurement challenge as Stansberry’s Investment Advisory.
Retirement Millionaire has lots of positions opened before our five-year window that are still earning outstanding gains for readers. For example, Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway (BRK-B) is up 769%… Microsoft is up 1,408%… Alphabet is up 721%… banking giant JPMorgan Chase (JPM) is up 298%… and e-commerce behemoth Amazon (AMZN) is up 407%.
If you look at Retirement Millionaire since its inception in 2008, the model portfolio has posted an average return of 64.7%, versus 71.3% for the S&P 500. But Doc only selected safe, conservative stocks.
What’s more shocking… Doc boasts a win percentage of 72%. His winners outnumber his losers by 2.5-to-1.
And in the 18-year history of Retirement Millionaire, there’s only one “vintage” that has lost money (2021).
If you want to earn real money over the long term, Retirement Millionaire is the best in the business.
TheFerris Report: D
Dan Ferris is here to protect you from disaster.
Dan doesn’t like to be described as bearish. He’s an optimistic person. He sees opportunities in the market.
But as an investor, Dan knows that someday the markets will stop delivering pleasure and start delivering pain.
Unfortunately for The Ferris Report, which we launched in 2022, the market has only delivered pleasure over the past few years.
With average gains near 20%, Dan has lagged the benchmark S&P 500 since inception, which is a short of five years.
However, he has a 64% win rate. And were it not for two relatively quick losses in 2022 and 2025 – on Smith & Wesson (SWBI) and Tempus AI (TEM) – Dan would have done a lot better. Still, losses are losses.
However…
Dan is a bear market investor who has not had the “luck” to invest through a bear market yet.
And average gains near 20% are a great way to grow your wealth. It’s just that the market is so hot, Dan has missed some opportunities.
He’s doing that on purpose, though…
If you recall a few years ago, the hottest fund in the market was Cathie Wood’s high-flying ARK Innovation Fund (ARKK), which bought every overvalued tech stock with little concern for risk management.
When the tech stock market collapsed in 2021, a chart started circulating comparing ARKK’s returns to Berkshire Hathaway’s…
I believe Dan’s risk management will prove out over time.
You’ll see that when we review his Extreme Valueservice in the next part of our Report Card. Dan has published that since 2002. So it has had the benefit of proving Dan’s prowess “through the cycle.” Multiple cycles, in fact. I won’t spoil the grade, but… it’s good.
For now, we’ll settle on a D for The Ferris Report. But if a bear market comes, the work Dan has done over the past four years will prove valuable.
A note about The N.E.W. System…
In September, we launched the New Engine of Wealth (N.E.W.) System to make AI work for you.
Each quarter, this system uses an AI algorithm to build a portfolio of high-quality stocks with the goal of long-term outperformance of the market.
We don’t have enough data to judge it yet. But it will get a grade for its first year in next year’s annual Report Card.
I’ll be back next week to grade our more advanced services with the final part of this year’s Report Card.
It has already risen 185% through THREE major crashes… beat the S&P 500 Index last year, with less risk than stocks… and massively outperformed in the tariff crash. Now, with markets on a knife-edge, five of our most senior experts are stepping forward with all the details of our No. 1 recommendation for 2026. Click here to stream our briefing now.
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New 52-week highs (as of 1/29/26): ABB (ABBNY), Applied Materials (AMAT), ASML (ASML), Atmus Filtration Technologies (ATMU), BHP (BHP), BP (BP), Chevron (CVX), iMGP DBi Managed Futures Strategy Fund (DBMF), Donaldson (DCI), EnerSys (ENS), Ero Copper (ERO), Freeport-McMoRan (FCX), Comfort Systems USA (FIX), Franklin FTSE Japan Fund (FLJP), Freehold Royalties (FRU.TO), Cambria Foreign Shareholder Yield Fund (FYLD), SPDR Gold Shares (GLD), Alphabet (GOOGL), Hawaiian Electric Industries (HE), Helmerich & Payne (HP), Hubbell (HUBB), Kinder Morgan (KMI), Lincoln Electric (LECO), Lockheed Martin (LMT), Mueller Industries (MLI), New York Times (NYT), Ormat Technologies (ORA), Sprott Physical Gold Trust (PHYS), Invesco Oil & Gas Services Fund (PXJ), Roche (RHHBY), SandRidge Energy (SD), Tenaris (TS), Sprott Physical Uranium Trust (U-U.TO), ProShares Ultra Gold (UGL), Vale (VALE), State Street Energy Select Sector SPDR Fund (XLE), and ExxonMobil (XOM).
“Dan, I’m with you. I don’t often thank you and Corey enough. Thanks for all your efforts on our behalf.
“Yes, I have a problem! I followed Stansberry’s analysts’ recommendations for SLV and GLD, AND numerous royalty and mining companies. Gold and silver in those forms now are more than 15% of my portfolio. I took some profits on SLV and now reading today’s Digest will widen my trailing stop. It’s crazy times. I thank you for your sanity. And hosting Investor Hour.” – Stansberry Alliance member Jeffrey G.
Good investing,
Matt Weinschenk Publisher Baltimore, Maryland January 30, 2026
Stansberry Research Top 10 Open Recommendations
Top 10 highest-returning open stock positions across all Stansberry Research portfolios. Returns represent the total return from the initial recommendation.InvestmentBuy DateReturnPublicationMSFT Microsoft11/11/101,407.5%Retirement MillionaireMSFT Microsoft02/10/121,396.9%Stansberry’s Investment AdvisoryADP Automatic Data Processing10/09/08925.0%Extreme ValueBRK.B Berkshire Hathaway04/01/09769.2%Retirement MillionaireGOOGL Alphabet12/15/16733.2%Retirement MillionaireWRB W.R. Berkley03/15/12632.8%Stansberry’s Investment AdvisorySII Sprott01/11/18602.2%Extreme ValueALS-T Altius Minerals03/26/09595.6%Extreme ValueSI Silver bullion03/12/20538.7%Extreme ValuePSLV Sprott Physical Silver Trust04/13/20532.2%Extreme Value
Please note: Securities appearing in the Top 10 are not necessarily recommended buys at current prices. The list reflects the best-performing positions currently in the model portfolio of any Stansberry Research publication. The buy date reflects when the editor recommended the investment in the listed publication, and the return shows its performance since that date. To learn if a security is still a recommended buy today, you must be a subscriber to that publication and refer to the most recent portfolio.
Top 10 Totals5Extreme ValueFerris3Retirement MillionaireDoc2Stansberry’s Investment AdvisoryPorter
Top 5 Crypto Capital Open Recommendations
Top 5 highest-returning open positions in the Crypto Capital model portfolioInvestmentBuy DateReturnPublicationWSTETH/USD Wrapped Staked Ethereum12/07/182,193.2%Crypto CapitalBTC/USD Bitcoin11/27/182,150.2%Crypto CapitalONE/USD Harmony12/16/191,019.9%Crypto CapitalQRL/USD Quantum Resistant Ledger01/19/21935.9%Crypto CapitalPOL/USD Polygon02/26/21646.8%Crypto Capital
Please note: Securities appearing in the Top 5 are not necessarily recommended buys at current prices. The list reflects the best-performing positions currently in the Crypto Capital model portfolio. The buy date reflects when the recommendation was made, and the return shows its performance since that date. To learn if it’s still a recommended buy today, you must be a subscriber and refer to the most recent portfolio.
^ These gains occurred with a partial position in the respective stocks. * Editor Dave Lashmet closed the first leg of this Nvidia position in November 2016 for a gain of about 108%. Then, he closed the second leg in July 2020 for a 777% return. And finally, in May 2022, he booked a 1,466% return on the final leg. Subscribers who followed his advice on Nvidia could’ve recorded a total weighted average gain of more than 600%.
Stansberry Research Crypto Hall of Fame
Top 5 highest-returning closed positions in the Crypto Capital model portfolioInvestmentDurationGainAnalystBand Protocol (BAND)0.31 years1,169%Crypto CapitalTerra (LUNA)0.41 years1,166%Crypto CapitalPolymesh (POLYX)3.84 years1,157%Crypto CapitalFrontier (FRONT)0.09 years979%Crypto CapitalBinance Coin (BNB)1.78 years963%Crypto Capital
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In fact, there’s one stock (not Tesla) that should be on every investor’s radar right now.
Months ago, we predicted:
“It won’t be long before Tesla’s new product is everywhere – on sale in showrooms across America and around the world.”
And now that I’ve seen it with my own eyes, I’m convinced the rollout is happening faster and at a bigger scale than anyone’s prepared for.
One of our top stock experts – whose team has briefed the FBI, the Pentagon, and Fortune 500 CIOs – says the tech behind Optimus could trigger one of the most profound wealth transfers of our lifetime.
To understand exactly what’s happening… and get the name of the stock he recommends you buy for free today… I strongly urge you to watch this urgent presentation now:
P.S. I wasn’t expecting to see Optimus in person, but now that I have… I get it. It’s a 5’8″, 125-pound humanoid robot that can carry 45 pounds while walking at 5 miles per hour – perfect for factory work. Musk believes we’ll eventually see 10 billion of them in circulation. Why? Because once this rollout begins, every business that makes something will want one. This could spark a financial story even bigger than anything you’ve seen from Tesla and Elon. Click here now to see what’s coming next.
As January comes to a close, the S&P 500 and other major indexes traded near record highs, pointing to a broadening rally beyond mega-cap tech. The Russell 2000 and several niche ETFs—ranging from drone-technology to precious metals plays—are outpacing the S&P so far this month.
Corporate moves and the economy offered mixed signals. Dow Inc. said it will cut about 4,500 jobs, citing a push into AI and automation and booking $600–$800 million in severance. Labor-market data stayed firm, with initial unemployment claims modestly down to 209,000. Mortgage rates ticked up to a 30-year average of 6.1% but remain near a three-year low, and the IRS expects higher average tax refunds this season, potentially boosting consumer spending.
Commodities and geopolitics added texture: crude oil and gold futures climbed, supporting energy and miners, while U.S. officials warned of China’s growing manufacturing dominance—a risk to global supply chains that investors are watching.
Texas Instruments (NASDAQ: TXN) is on track to break out of a long-term trading range, set a new high, and embark on a significant rally. The company’s Q4 2025 earnings release and 2026 outlook not only affirmed the recovery in analog semiconductor markets but also the importance of those ma…READ THE FULL STORY
A widely followed Wall Street analyst is highlighting AES Corp (AES) as a stock to watch right now, based on signals from his proprietary Power Gauge system. The model tracks factors like momentum, financial strength, and institutional activity across thousands of U.S. stocks.
He breaks down the full reasoning in a short briefing, including why AES is showing unusual strength at this stage of the market.SEE THE FULL ANALYSIS HERE
Following a year that was generally good for utilities stocks, it is surprising that NextEra Energy Inc. (NYSE: NEE) is “only” up about 24% over the last 12 months. In fact, a significant amount of that growth has come in 2026. NEE stock is up 9.2% in the first month of the year, with about …READ THE FULL STORY
Carvana Co. (NYSE: CVNA) shares experienced extreme volatility in trading during the last days of January 2026. The stock dropped approximately 14%, trading near $408 per share and erasing a significant portion of its gains from earlier in the year. This sharp decline creates a confusing picture…READ THE FULL STORY
For the everyday American who’s worked hard to build their nest egg, Trump preserved a IRS loophole that allows you to protect your retirement savings before billions in American wealth are lost.
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U.S. automotive giant General Motors (NYSE: GM) just saw its historic rally get another boost. In 2025, shares of GM delivered a total return of over 54%, marking the stock’s best calendar year performance since its 2010 relisting on the NYSE. The stock saw its latest surge on Jan. 27. Shar…READ THE FULL STORY
Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ: MSFT) was one of the first “Magnificent 7” stocks to report earnings this season. Despite beating on the top and bottom lines, concerns about the return on investment from Microsoft’s robust capital expenditures (CapEx) plans have sent the stock plummetin…READ THE FULL STORY
A growing number of investors are paying attention to developments around private space companies and potential future public listings.
In a recent briefing, one research publisher outlines how some investors are seeking early exposure to the space economy through publicly traded assets — without waiting for a formal IPO. The presentation walks through the structure, risks, and mechanics behind this approach for those who want to understand how it works.READ THE FULL SPONSOR BRIEFING HERE
Capital One Financial (NYSE: COF) stock is down approximately 6% one week after the bank’s earnings report on Jan. 22. For the fourth quarter of 2025, the company delivered $15.62 billion in revenue, beating expectations for $15.49 billion. However, the bottom line was a miss with earnings p…READ THE FULL STORY
2026 is well underway and off to a bullish start. The S&P 500 and other major indices are ending January at record highs, and the Russell 2000 (INDEXRUSSELL: RUT), which tracks small-cap stocks, is leading the charge. The main point is that the sector rotation seen over the past 18 months is s…READ THE FULL STORY
After months of being down and out, Meta Platforms (NASDAQ: META) may have just changed the narrative around its business in a big way. In October, the Magnificent Seven stock tanked 11% after its Q3 earnings report, driven by fears of out-of-control artificial intelligence (AI) spending. However…READ THE FULL STORY
Electric vehicle king Tesla Inc (NASDAQ: TSLA) looks set for fresh gains after its Q4 earnings report dispelled fears that its best days were behind it. With a major source of uncertainty removed, the bulls should now have more than enough ammunition to get this rally back on track. Shares of TS…READ THE FULL STORY
European video game developer UbiSoft Entertainment (OTCMKTS: UBSFY) saw its stock plummet last week following a wave of cancellations, most notably of the “Prince of Persia: Sands of Time Remake.” UbiSoft cancelled six games in total and announced a major business reset to shrink its studio coun…READ THE FULL STORY
Wells Fargo & Co. is a diversified and community-based financial services company, which engages in the provision of banking, insurance, investments, mortgage, and consumer and commercial finance products and services. It operates through the following segments: Consumer Banking and Lending, Commercial Banking, Corporate and Investment Banking, and Wealth and Investment Management. The Consumer Banking and Lending segment offers consumer and small business banking, home lending, credit cards…
Should I Buy Wells Fargo & Company Stock? WFC Bull and Bear Case Explained
These insights were generated using artificial intelligence. They are based on proprietary MarketBeat data, news articles, and custom LLM A.I. algorithms. This analysis of Wells Fargo & Company was last updated on Wednesday, January 28, 2026 at 6:13 PM.
Wells Fargo & Company Bull Case
The current stock price is around $88, which may present a buying opportunity for investors looking for value in the financial sector.
The company reported a strong earnings per share (EPS) of $1.76, exceeding analysts’ expectations, indicating robust financial performance.
Wells Fargo & Company has shown a year-over-year revenue growth of 4.5%, suggesting a positive trend in its business operations.
The firm has a solid return on equity of 12.90%, reflecting effective management and profitability relative to shareholders’ equity.
With a dividend yield of 2.1% and a payout ratio of 28.71%, Wells Fargo & Company offers a reliable income stream for investors seeking dividends.
Wells Fargo & Company Bear Case
The company’s revenue of $11.97 billion for the latest quarter fell short of the consensus estimate, raising concerns about future growth potential.
Wells Fargo & Company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.05, which may indicate higher financial risk compared to its peers.
Despite a positive EPS, the overall market sentiment towards bank stocks has been cautious, which could impact stock performance.
Analysts have mixed ratings, with some maintaining a “hold” rating, suggesting uncertainty about the stock’s future trajectory.
The stock has a 52-week high of $97.76, indicating that it may be trading closer to its peak, which could limit upside potential for new investors.
The Early Bird is a daily email newsletter powered by MarketBeat that covers the top stories that will impact the stock market each day. Read your copy every morning at 7:00 AM Eastern so that you can “catch the worm” when the market opens.
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3 Large Cap Stocks Announce Big Buyback Boosts Amid +20% Falls
Written by Leo Miller on January 28, 2026
Article Highlights
Automatic Data Processing, CoStar Group, and Paychex all expanded buyback capacity after steep share-price declines.
Each authorization equals a meaningful slice of market cap, suggesting management confidence at current levels.
CoStar stands out for pairing a large repurchase plan with updated forward commentary as it ramps investment.
Several large-cap stocks just issued big-time buyback capacity increases. These buyback boosts come as all three stocks have taken huge tumbles over the past several months, down 20% or more from their highs. The combination of these factors suggests that management teams at these companies may view their shares as undervalued.
Have you ever seen a stock explode before the opening bell?
It happens when major news hits and a surge of capital floods into a narrow group of stocks all at once. FDA approvals, surprise deals, or breakthrough announcements can trigger what I call a premarket burst—a rapid move that often continues once regular trading begins. The key is spotting that burst as it forms, before most traders are even paying attention.
I recently uncovered a way to track these premarket capital waves in real time, without relying on options. I’ve broken down how it works, shared recent examples, and even revealed my top stock to watch heading into 2026. There are no guarantees in trading, but if you want to understand how these premarket moves develop, it’s worth a look.Get the full breakdown here
Slow Hiring Hurts ADP, Fires Back With Big Repurchase Plan
First up is Automatic Data Processing (NASDAQ: ADP). Since hitting an all-time closing high near $321 in June of 2025, ADP shares have retreated significantly, dropping 20%. The company’s fiscal Q1 earnings report was strong, but its shares still fell by almost 7% the day following. (Note that ADP’s fiscal year and calendar year are not aligned).
ADP beat estimates on sales and adjusted earnings per share (EPS) and forecasted steady growth going forward, combined with margin expansion. However, the company indicated weakness in the job market.
In aggregate, ADP clients did not increase their headcount last quarter, suggesting a weak hiring environment.
ADP often charges customers per employee, so this is a headwind for the company.
However, it is possible that ADP believes the sell-off in its shares is overdone.
On Jan. 14, the company announced a $6 billion share buyback program. This program is very sizable, equal to around 5.8% of the company’s $104 billion market capitalization.
This gives the company a significant ability to lower its outstanding share count, spreading its value over fewer shares. With the buyback program and the Jan. 28 earnings report as potential near-term catalysts, this is a stock to watch going forward.
CoStar hit its 52-week closing high back in August of 2025 near $97, a figure that was just a few dollars below its all-time closing high from 2021. Since then, the stock has lost 32% of its value, with a notable 10% loss coming after CoStar’s latest earnings. The company also beat estimates on sales, adjusted EPS, and even boosted its full-year 2025 guidance.
CoStar is investing aggressively to compete with Zillow, allocating significant resources toward artificial intelligence tools. This seems to have scared off many investors, as these investments will weigh on margins.
With shares down big, CoStar announced a $1.5 billion share buyback program on Jan. 7. This is equal to 5.4% of the company’s market capitalization, a signal of management confidence going forward. Notably, the company also increased its 2026 guidance and said that investment would moderate during the year.
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PAYX Approves $1B Buyback With Shares Down +30%
Paychex (NASDAQ: PAYX) is another company in the payroll, human resources, and benefits solutions space. However, Paychex tends to focus more on small and medium-sized businesses, while ADP’s clients are often much larger. Like ADP, Paychex hit its 52-week and all-time closing high back in June of 2025, trading near $157. Shares have moved steeply in the opposite direction since, down around 32%.
The stock’s biggest stumble came after its earnings report in late June, when shares dropped almost 10% in one day. The firm met or exceeded estimates on sales and adjusted EPS. However, around $146 million in costs related to Paychex’s acquisition of Paycor caused non-adjusted operating income to fall by 11%. Additionally, hiring market uncertainties have put pressure on the stock, as they have on ADP.
On Jan. 16, Paychex announced a $1 billion share repurchase program, a potential sign that management sees value in the stock. The program is equal to a solid 2.6% of Paychex’s $38 billion market capitalization.
Notably, the company repurchased $290 million in shares over the past 12 months. Thus, the company has the capability to greatly increase its buyback spending pace now.
Watchlist Add: CoStar
These three names are all flashing confident signals to investors through their new buyback authorizations. Among this group, CoStar is particularly interesting. The company has already established itself as a stalwart in the commercial real estate space. The possibility of doing the same in retail would make the firm a very formidable force. The company’s huge buyback announcement and updated guidance are encouraging signs.
Microsoft Drops After Earnings—Why the Bull Case Holds
Written by Chris Markoch on January 29, 2026
Key Takeaways
Microsoft stock plunged after earnings despite beating estimates, as investors reacted to heavy AI infrastructure spending.
Azure’s 39% growth and continued demand signal Microsoft is investing aggressively to secure long-term leadership.
Analysts still see roughly 40% upside, suggesting the sell-off may be a buying opportunity rather than a trend reversal.
Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ: MSFT) was one of the first “Magnificent 7” stocks to report earnings this season. Despite beating on the top and bottom lines, concerns about the return on investment from Microsoft’s robust capital expenditures (CapEx) plans have sent the stock plummeting.
In fact, MSFT stock was down about 11% in midday trading on Jan. 29, the day after the report. That was the largest intraday loss since March 16, 2020—a wild reversal of fortunes for a stock that was trading at an all-time high (ATH) just three months prior to the earnings report.
Microsoft reported earnings per share (EPS) of $4.14 on revenue of $81.27 billion. Both numbers were higher than expectations for EPS of $3.86 on revenue of $80.28 billion. However, investors believe that much of Microsoft’s growth is already reflected in the stock price. Even year-over-year (YOY) growth of 39% in its Azure cloud computing business wasn’t good enough to spark a rally.
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The concern is that the AI applications at the top of the AI stack may never develop as expected. If that’s the case, then all this spending will prove to be an unnecessary drag on corporate profits for these technology stocks.
What gets lost in this “circular debate” about circular financing and future growth is that Microsoft is playing a long game. And it’s telling investors exactly what the likely outcome will be.
The company is committing to its current and future capital expenditure spending for one reason. It can’t build fast enough to meet demand.
The takeaway is that MSFT stock may look very different for traders and investors. Traders have likely already positioned for earnings volatility and the institutional reaction that follows.
But for investors, this does not seem like a time to panic.
Analysts Are Still Bullish on MSFT Stock
The day after earnings, the headlines say analysts are lowering their price targets for MSFT stock.
That’s true, but context matters. In many cases, the revised targets are still well above the Street’s consensus price target of $597.41, which implies about 40% upside from the stock’s price as of this writing.
That doesn’t guarantee a 40% return. But it suggests Wall Street still sees meaningful upside even after trimming expectations. In that light, the earnings sell-off looks more like a timing issue than a broken thesis.
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MSFT Stock Drop Is More Likely a Pause Than a Reversal
In midday trading the day after the earnings report, MSFT stock showed signs that the sell-off was abating. Having said that, timing a stock’s reversal is tricky in any environment, and especially after a market-moving event, like the company’s earnings report.
That means that Microsoft may still have further to fall. However, MSFT stock was up approximately 10% in the five trading days prior to earnings. The sell-off has erased those gains and pushed the stock down to levels not seen since May 2025.
That’s where the opportunity may lie. Microsoft stock is now flashing strong oversold signals. That supports the idea that the price actionfollowing the report is more of a pause to the recovery than a reversal.
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The FBI carried out a raid of an election office in Fulton County, Georgia. This was allegedly related to the 2020 elections and is part of an ongoing investigation.
Today, let’s go through a few recent developments with the Trump administration: the escalating war of words with Canada, the citizenship verification order by the Department of Housing and Urban Development, as well as the effort to denaturalize recently naturalized U.S. citizens whose conduct justifies such an action.
Chen Zhi faces an indictment in federal court in New York on charges of swindling millions of dollars from Americans as part of a global cryptocurrency scam.
Dr. Joanna Moncrieff is a British psychiatrist and author of “Chemically Imbalanced: The Making and Unmaking of the Serotonin Myth.” She challenges the long-held belief that depression is caused by a lack of the hormone serotonin.
California’s fuel system is under pressure, not because demand has fallen, but because the path from oil to fuel has narrowed. What happens when pipelines shut down and oil that once flowed underground now requires nearly 100 trucks a day on Kern County roads?
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RJ Hamster 