A Bet on Something That Will Never Change

'What's not going to change in the next 10 years?'... Why not invest in them?... We all have to eat... The overlooked investment in this essential industry... 'The next great logistics trend that nobody is watching'...

One great thing about working in the financial newsletter business...

You get to learn while reading "on the job"...

For a writer and editor like myself (Corey McLaughlin), this might be the biggest perk of the job.

As Porter said on stage at our annual Stansberry Conference in Las Vegas last week, the key to making good things happen is to surround yourself with people who are smarter than yourself.

I like to think I'm doing that by reading and editing what guys like Steve Sjuggerud, Dr. David "Doc" Eifrig, and Porter have to say every day.

My point is, it's amazing to learn from thought-provoking writers and investors while getting paid for it...

One of the first writers I came across a few years ago was a guy named Morgan Housel.

He's a partner at the venture capital firm, Collaborative Fund... And he's a fantastic writer who publishes something new almost once a week, usually within a historical context. His stuff is well worth a read, and will often make you question your assumptions.

Recently, while working on one of our publications (which I'll get to below), I was reminded of one of Housel's pieces in particular...

It was about 'betting on things that never change'...

For a lot of you, this idea may sound simple... but don't let that fool you. I urge you to read on because as Housel said in his original essay, "This is one of those important things that's too basic for most smart people to pay attention to."

So much in our world is constantly changing, and it's changing at a faster and faster pace. But what about the things that won't change? Can we make money by focusing on those things?

Housel used online-retail giant Amazon's (AMZN) approach to business over the past two decades as a primary example...

The allure of the Internet in 1995 was betting on change. New paradigms born. Old strategies discarded. Something requiring radically different thinking.

Yet Amazon's focus from day one was as old as it gets. Selection and price. Businesses have pursued the idea for millennia.

As Housel pointed out, Amazon's billionaire founder Jeff Bezos once explained why this was so important...

I very frequently get the question: "What's going to change in the next 10 years?" That's a very interesting question.

I almost never get the question: "What's not going to change in the next 10 years?" And I submit to you that that second question is actually the more important of the two.

You can build a business strategy around the things that are stable in time. In our retail business, we know that customers want low prices, and I know that's going to be true 10 years from now. They want fast delivery; they want vast selection.

It's impossible to imagine a future 10 years from now where a customer comes up and says, "Jeff I love Amazon, I just wish the prices were a little higher." Or, "I love Amazon, I just wish you'd deliver a little slower." Impossible.

So we know the energy we put into these things today will still be paying off dividends for our customers 10 years from now. When you have something that you know is true, even over the long term, you can afford to put a lot of energy into it.

Focusing on things that won't change and applying those principles to new lines of business fueled the growth of one of the largest companies in the world as well as plenty of others.

I was reminded of all this when reading the most recent issue of Doc Eifrig's Income Intelligence...

Doc's latest idea is based on our most essential need – food...

Obviously, the demand for food is never going away... It's among our most basic needs. We've all got to eat. (It's literally at the base of Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs.)

But as Doc pointed out, something within the food industry is changing... Digitization is coming to the grocery business.

An increasing number of Americans are getting more comfortable with things like online ordering... And many grocery stores in towns all over the country now offer home-delivery options.

This is changing the way we buy food and how it's delivered. This is one of the final frontiers of "digitization." But few folks are talking about it – yet. As Doc wrote...

While about 16% of all retail sales occur online, only about 2.7% of grocery sales in the U.S. do... but the trend is growing, up from 2.2% last year.

We think this dynamic comes down to some unique elements of the customer experience. We're accustomed to strolling aisles, pondering what we see on the shelves, and choosing our own produce. And that behavior has made people slow to shop for groceries online.

But as Doc and his team explained, that's changing... since a little extra grocery planning can spare you a couple hours a week schlepping around the supermarket...

And now, more consumers are buying groceries online. In Coresight Research's 2019 U.S. Online Grocery Survey, 36.8% of consumers had bought groceries online in the last year, up from 23.1% the previous year.

And industry website Grocery Dive recently reported on a survey in which 66% of respondents expected to buy their groceries online in the next five years.

Just like Amazon used new tools to satisfy our innate desire for low prices and fast delivery... digitization will lead to similar growth and opportunity in the "food chain." Doc calls this the "next great logistics trend that nobody is watching."

After all, can you imagine anyone 10 years from now wishing there were a way to spend more time trudging around the frozen-food aisle? (We know Jeff Bezos' answer. He bought Whole Foods last year and is quickly integrating it with Amazon.)

In the issue, Doc and his team identified a great way to invest in this trend. This company works in a niche corner of the food supply chain... but one that will become critical as at-home grocery delivery becomes part of our everyday lives.

Capacity in this sector is already limited... so its services will only get more valuable as demand rises. As Doc and his team explain, the company has huge growth potential... and it pays a dividend that is likely to grow alongside its business.

Out of fairness to Doc's paid subscribers, we can't reveal the name of his most recent recommendation here. But if you'd like to read more, we encourage you to sign up for Income Intelligence. If you have never read Income Intelligence, we don't know any other advisory that offers a more comprehensive look at generating investment income.

In every issue, Doc and his team share their research about a full range of income-focused investments... whether it's dividend-paying stocks, bonds, preferred shares, or real estate investment trusts. And they also show the areas offering the most yield on your capital today.

To learn more about Doc's service and how to subscribe to Income Intelligence, click here.

Speaking of surrounding yourself with the smartest people you can find...

Few analysts have earned more respect around our office than Stansberry Venture Technology editor Dave Lashmet... As many of you know, Dave was the first analyst Porter hired, and no one has a better record of identifying small, speculative stocks that go on to rise hundreds – in some cases, thousands – of percent.

In particular, Dave's research on cancer therapies has been remarkable. As he explained yesterday, the first stock he studied as a Stansberry analyst was a cancer treatment. Over the past 20 years, he has visited labs across Europe and the U.S. as well as universities and hospitals like Harvard, MIT, and Johns Hopkins to see the latest science on fighting cancer.

The work has paid off. Of the 14 cancer-related stocks he has recommended, eight (more than half) have delivered triple-digit gains as high as 312%.

And now, Dave says the study of cancer has crossed an important threshold. For the first time in his career, he says it's reasonable to start talking about a cure.

For years, hearing the phrase "cure for cancer" raised a red flag. Nearly anyone hawking a "cure for cancer" was misinformed... or cynically exploiting folks.

But things have changed. Many of the world's top cancer doctors say a cure is within reach. And all of the research Dave has seen in recent months says this is true... that we now know how the fight against cancer can be won.

The medical community still has a lot of work to do... and it still may be a few years before cures for scores of different cancers are commercially available. But that's why now is the time to invest in the trend...

Dave and his team recently put together a video detailing where the science is today... and also laid out the hard data that has given the scientific world such optimism. To see the video and learn more about Dave's work, click here.

New 52-week highs (as of 10/15/19): Celgene (CELG), New Oriental Education & Technology (EDU), Home Depot (HD), iShares U.S. Home Construction Fund (ITB), Lennar (LEN), Microsoft (MSFT), and NetEase (NTES).

In today's mailbag, a subscriber has a suggestion for troubled "coworking" giant WeWork. What's on your mind? As always, send your comments, questions, and general concerns to feedback@stansberryresearch.com.

"I was thinking about WeWork. Dan Ferris in particular has been scathing with comments like WeCan'tPayRent. I intend writing to the board with more constructive advice.

"You at Stansberry Research have, correctly, advocated investing in businesses that sell legally addictive substances, i.e. nicotine and alcohol. Nicotine is tricky these days as [Juul] is finding out. Booze is much easier – rent a large number of Bars across the world and rebrand them WeDrink. First beer free (the company already has experience with free beer for marketing). Beer is highly diuretic and when patrons want to use the washrooms, you charge them a modest fee. This subsidiary, called WeWee, would require no additional staff or premises (Highly 'capital' efficient in Porter's terms).

"How to fund the turnaround? Easy. Phone Adam Neumann and tell him all is forgiven and he can come back as CEO provided he swings by Jamie Dimon's office and gets another $500 million for a private placement in the new companies..." – Paid-up subscriber Michael H.

Regards

Corey McLaughlin
Baltimore, Maryland
October 16, 2019