Porter Nails the Bottom
Editor's note: On March 26, almost the exact day of the ultimate bottom in stocks three days earlier, our founder Porter Stansberry aired a special broadcast, urging long-term investors to "buy now" and calling for new highs by the end of the year...
This was a bold call, considering it felt like the world was unraveling around us at the time. We were under nationwide lockdowns... And an unknown virus was spreading fast. But Porter had conviction, especially given the amount of "easy money" the Federal Reserve was pumping into the market...
It was a contrarian view... Porter said the COVID-19 crash would be "like hitting the pause button" on what had been the longest bull market run of all time. And he put a timeline on it, saying...
I think the market will bottom within 10 days of today. My most likely day for the market to bottom is actually this coming Monday.
I think this coming Monday, you will begin to see signs that the virus is under control in the United States, and the market will bottom when that happens...
Subscribers who took Porter's advice have been rewarded handsomely... The high-quality stocks Porter recommended that day and in the following months – Stansberry's Forever Portfolio – are up an average of more than 40%, as we write.
So in today's Holiday Series essay, we're looking back on Porter's latest great call with a combined version of a pair of Digests (March 23 and 26) we ran during the final full week of March, when he nailed the bottom...
Porter Nails the Bottom
We know many subscribers have been wondering...
What does Porter think of all this?
Over the past few weeks, we've seen the e-mails from folks asking – and in some cases, demanding – to hear our founder Porter Stansberry's take on what has been happening with the markets...
Where is Porter? Is he healthy? You guys still do WONDERFUL work, but I think everyone would desperately love Porter's take on the market, especially during such a crazy time. – Paid-up subscriber Billy F.
Where's Porter been, and is he OK? I would think he'd be doing victory laps now. Hope he is well. – Paid-up subscriber Arthur Z.
When was the last time anyone heard from Porter? Will he be coming out of his bunker in the backwoods? 😉 – Paid-up subscriber Jim B.
We can't blame anyone for being curious. I (Corey McLaughlin) am... And a lot of others around our (now virtual) office are, too.
So to this point, we have great news for those who have asked...
'I wouldn't be surprised to see stocks at new highs by the end of this year'...
Porter made that statement earlier today (March 26) in a special video presentation with our Director of Research Austin Root.
We believe any investor will find the talk insightful and well worth their time.
In short, Porter and Austin not only covered a lot of timely information about the COVID-19 crash and what might happen next in the markets... but they also talked extensively about how to successfully invest for the long term.
The discussion covered what Porter looks for in the type of stocks he considers the "Greatest of All-Time"... how to spot the world's best businesses... and why he's talking about this all right now...
Porter believes investors currently have a once-in-a-generation opportunity to buy shares of these sorts of high-quality companies – like Coca-Cola (KO), American Express (AXP), and Starbucks (SBUX)... and hold them and make money forever. As Porter said in the broadcast...
This is a rare opportunity like the Great Depression, like 2008 or 2009 [in the financial crisis]. This is the opportunity that you've been waiting for.
I never thought ever in my career that I would get a chance to buy these stocks at the kind of prices we saw in '08 and '09. I thought that was gone forever.
As Porter describes it, he didn't know "they ate bats in Wuhan" or that a sick animal would cause a pandemic that sparked the fastest drop into a bear market in U.S. history... spur businesses to close their doors around the country... and force almost everyone to stay home for weeks.
But now that it has happened – and especially if your stop losses have been triggered recently during the stock market's drop and you're sitting on a pile of cash – you should take advantage of what he thinks is a short-term blow to the broader market and global economy...
This is like hitting the pause button. It might take 60 days to get everything back to normal, but the market's going to look past that... There is no permanent change to the U.S. economy or world economy.
We're not talking about a permanent disruption to trade between China, America, and Europe. This is all going to go away. As soon as that becomes really clear, and the timetable for that going away can be plotted, stocks will rebound.
Now, we're not out of the virus woods yet. The number of cases worldwide just crossed 500,000.
Still, as of today's close, we've now seen the major U.S. indexes rebound 20%-plus in three trading days (a one-week bull market!) as the details and a timeline of the government stimulus package have become clearer...
In any case, Porter says the pandemic has created a tremendous opportunity to buy his 'GOATs'...
These are his "Greatest of All Time" stocks... not a reference to any animals from a farm.
These "GOATs" are the stocks that Porter says you should buy and never sell – as long as you want to make money. They're great, world-class businesses, and they all have two distinguishing characteristics going for them.
These traits should sound familiar to longtime Stansberry Research readers...
- A capital-efficient business model, and
- Economic goodwill
Take Coca-Cola, for instance. This is the first stock Porter ever bought. And in today's discussion, he shared why the company has been so successful...
First, its capital-efficient business model (Coke basically sells syrup to bottlers and owns a huge distribution network)... and the power of economic goodwill (when the company changed its soda formula in the 1980s, for example, customers started stocking up on "Old Coke").
And all the cash the company generates from its business lines allows it to use its market-dominating position to buy stakes in new products – like millennial-friendly Monster Energy drinks or staple products like bottled water – and plug them into its existing network...
The money rolls in and growing dividends are consistently paid to investors.
And this is just one example...
Porter and his research team put together a list of 40 great stocks to potentially own forever...
Longtime subscribers may recognize a lot of these names for their GOAT traits...
I'm not giving too much away because Porter mentions them during the broadcast. We're talking about companies like Coke, fast-food giant McDonald's (MCD), and chocolate maker Hershey (HSY).
But roughly half of the stocks on this "shopping list" are less known...
These are the "Greatest No One Has Heard Of"... companies like insurance provider W.R. Berkley (WRB)... and a select group of "Up and Comers."
These businesses aren't covered much in the media, but they also have the specialized services and competitive moats in their industries that Porter and our research team value.
So there you have it. Goats. Moats. And all because of bats. Click here to learn much more about Porter's "forever stocks"... and how you can instantly access all of our research about them today.
All the best,
Corey McLaughlin
Editor's note: Porter was spot-on, nearly to the day...
After we ran these essays, the markets soared. The Nasdaq Composite Index hit new highs in June, and the other major indexes eventually followed... rising 40% in two months.
As we mentioned, since Porter's call, subscribers to Stansberry's Forever Portfolio – the set of stocks he recommended back in March – have enjoyed massive gains, too...
Ten stocks in Porter's Forever Portfolio – which includes his "Greatest of All Time" picks and the "Greatest No One Has Heard Of" – are up by 50% or more as we go to press in late December... and three are up more than 70%.
Keep in mind, this is a select list of some of the highest-quality, lowest-risk companies you will ever find... And in some ways, it's a culmination of everything Porter has learned throughout his career.
If you missed out in March, we have good news...
First of all, it's not too late to buy Porter's recommended stocks. These are "forever stocks," after all.
Second, we have arranged a special offer for you to get in on this portfolio if you haven't already. Click here for more information.
And kudos to Porter, and all the subscribers who followed his advice, on another great call.