The Mike Alkin Show: Talking Stocks Over A Beer

Finding good stocks to own—or short—isn’t easy. It’s especially difficult if you rely on financial headlines or 30-second soundbites from the talking heads. That just makes you part of the herd. Finding ideas that make a difference in your portfolio is about doing the real work. I’m talking about primary research. Today I’m launching a new podcast segment, the “Hedge Fund Corner,” to teach you how to do it. And I’ve invited Craig Stack, founder of photo app Truepic, to the show today to help you get a jump start…

“Everybody has a plan, until they get punched in the face.” –Mike Tyson Tyson’s words ring true in the world of boxing. But in the world of investing, a plan helps you weather the roundhouse blows the market can dole out. And make no mistake, the market is teeing up to deliver a whopper.   Stocks move up or down based on results that meet, exceed, or disappoint expectations. First quarter earnings season just ended. And the results were stupendous. Earnings growth was up 25% year over year vs. expectations of 17%. Sales were on fire too... increasing over 8%. Despite this, the S&P 500 is now 2,727—5% lower than its high on January 26. The market seems to have been anticipating the massive upside surprise. And that could spell trouble for investors... It’s critical to have the right data and ask the right questions. So today, Steve Koomar, 25-year Wall Street pro and editor of Vigilante Investor joins me to help you develop a playbook. One with everything you need to stay ahead of this market...

First quarter earnings continue to be impressive... except, it seems, to the throngs of investors demanding even more. Despite a year over year earnings per share increase of 24%, stock prices are barely budging. On today’s podcast, I talk about why. You’ll hear from two of the smartest commodity guys I know... First, Daniel Major, CEO of Goviex Uranium and I deep-dive into the uranium sector—specifically the macro uranium environment and what’s happening at Goviex. Next up, economist and commodity investor Peter Sainsbury walks us through investing in the complex commodity sector… and where he suggests putting your money today.  

Welcome back to Talking Stocks Over a Beer. This earnings season is proving to be quite spectacular. The S&P 500 is growing earnings at a staggering 23% year-over-year—blowing away estimates of 17% earnings growth. But there’s a problem: It seems Mr. Market might have anticipated this growth. Despite the monster earnings, stocks are down. On today’s podcast, I’ll break down the math behind this season’s earnings—and more importantly, how you should be thinking about the impact to your portfolio. I have two guests on today’s podcast. First, former NFL linebacker Chad Cascadden joins me to discuss the NFL draft. He also tells me how playing for legendary coach Bill Belichick helped him become a better investor. Then, professional short seller Rob McArthur shares what he’s focusing on in today’s market environment, and how recent stock movement could be signaling trouble around the corner. Be forewarned: this episode is lengthy. You might want to listen in two parts.

Welcome back to Talking Stocks Over a Beer. First-quarter earnings results are upon us. Soon, the airwaves will be filled with noise about company results. Don’t be fooled by the headlines. Listening to the “experts” can be a dangerous game. Instead, pay attention to the details of the results. That’s where the money is made. Today, we’ll dig into those details—and the secrets of analyzing company results. My guest on this week’s episode is Andrew Weekly of Smith Weekly Research. Andrew is a fellow contrarian and an excellent researcher. (He’s provided a link to his research for today’s podcast listeners, which you can find below.) He has a lot of great insight on some deeply out-of-favor sectors—like uranium and offshore oil drillers—and how they actually have extremely attractive risk/reward profiles. Report  provided by Andrew Weekly of Smith Weekly Research: https://goo.gl/DGkRjW

Over the course of my career, I’ve learned that going against conventional wisdom often leads to the largest returns on investment… That’s one of the reasons I so enjoyed my conversation with today’s guest on Talking Stocks Over a Beer. Jonathan Tepper is a former Wall Street trader, economist, bestselling author, and the founder of independent research firm Variant Perception. He’s also a contrarian, like me. But what I particularly appreciate about Jonathan is, unlike a lot of folks out there, he believes in backing up his theses with hard data—not just catchy headlines. While Jonathan’s research is mostly for institutional investors and family offices, our discussion is easy to follow and informative for the individual investor. Today, we go over everything from the U.S. dollar to inflation, demographics to deficits, and what Jonathan expects to see from the market going forward. Jonathan also explains why he looks for “turning points” in the markets to maximize gains—and highlights some indicators, like m