The S&A Digest

Stansberry & Associates Top 10 Open Recommendations
(Top 10 highest-returning open positions across all S&A portfolios)

As of 07/01/2013

On the way to Tulum... Morgan's record quarter... New Chinese highs... Record year for dividends... About Jim Cramer... We saved a life... Us, greedy?

Short Digest today... We're headed down the Yucatan coast to Tulum. More tomorrow on what we find. (I'll even try to upload a few pictures... )

When the banks are making money hand over fist... watch your wallet. Morgan Stanley's earnings surpassed even the highest analyst estimate. The world's second-largest bank by market value saw a 70% gain in profit, taking in $2.67 billion for the quarter.

Chinese stocks have made a full recovery from their one-day, 10% plunge on February 27. Today, the Shanghai Composite Index gained 0.8% raising to 3,057.38 and surpassing the previous high of February 26.

More trouble in Thailand... The new, military-installed government is trying to bring charges of lèse-majesté – violating the dignity of a ruler – against ex-prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra. The exiled Thaksin is accused of offending the dignity of King Bhumibol Adulyadej on at least three occasions. Speculators take note: Despite all of the trouble over the last year, Thai stocks have rebounded off their lows set last June. The Thai stock market is still trading at 10 times earnings.

Standard & Poor's is forecasting that S&P 500 companies will pay out record dividends for 2007 of $27.85 per share, or an aggregate $252 billion payout. Changes to the tax code, four years of booming corporate earnings, record corporate profits, and a very active private-equity market are all contributing to the payouts. This also explains why our newest research product, S&A Dividend Grabber is likely to continue its string of big returns.

New high: Enterprise Products (EPD).

In the overflowing mailbag today, a hiatus (mostly) from hatred. Instead, how we saved a subscriber's life! First, though, we start with your comments about yesterday's bullet on the Detroit housing market. Send us your comments, friendly or mean-spirited. We read them all: feedback@stansberryresearch.com.

"It's not so much that [your analysts] disagree with each other, it's just that they see opportunity from different perspectives." – Paid-up subscriber Brian Heyliger

"Oh my god, I've never laughed so hard at the S&A [Digest]! Porter, that one's a classic." – Paid-up subscriber "Ken"

"That is the funniest thing I've heard all year. I was practically rolling on the floor." – Paid-up subscriber Brian Heyliger

"Maybe I'm old-fashioned, maybe I'm just old, but I am getting tired of what I see as your publishing company's tactics of trying to wring the last possible dollar from the subscribers to your various investment letters. First, the cross selling between investment letters. It is too intense and too repetitive... The final straw is your new Special Dividend investment letter. When is enough, ENOUGH! If Steve, Jeff, and a couple of your other guys went off on their own, I would follow them and drop you in a New York minute." – Paid-up subscriber Dennis Griffin

Porter comment: I make no apologies for being a marketer or for being in the business of selling subscriptions. The gentlemen you admire work for me because we're successful marketers – without this program we couldn't possibly afford to hire the best analysts. Advertising is how we stay in business. Compared to the other ways we might charge for financial information, it's an absolute bargain. We don't charge you for conflicted advice. We don't take a percentage of your assets. We merely ask you to subscribe... and if you change your mind, we give you your money back. Try that with your mutual fund, your insurance agent, or your hedge fund.

"I received an e-mail yesterday advertising Jim Cramer's investment advisory from Stansberry Research. Are you endorsing him now?" – Paid-up subscriber Paul Jefferson

Porter comment: Jim is very experienced and very knowledgeable about trading stocks. We might not have the same investment philosophy, but I'm confident most of my subscribers will benefit by reading his newsletter. I thought you would all like a 14-day trial to at least take a look.

"I am subscribing to the Dividend Grabber through my own experience of investing – by accident – in a couple. I cry over this one. I met a guy who worked for a biotech firm, who told me that due to a dispute with the parent company, his unit was spun off, and the CEO told everyone that, contrary to good investment advice, maybe they should put all their money into the stock. When I met him, the stock was trading at about $8. I bought at $8 and also bought some six-month $10 calls. When an announcement came that one of the drugs had failed Phase III, I sold everything in disgust. But two weeks later, the stock popped from $6 to $8, and then to $10. My $10 calls – which I had sold at a loss – went from 60 cents to $10 when the stock jumped to $20 a share. My $1,800 investment that I sold at a loss for $600, had jumped to $30,000. About 18 months after I saw him, the company was bought out – just as the guy had said it would – for $50 a share. $5,000 in $10 2007 calls would have been worth about $200,000. So it would be nice to uncover another opportunity like that 'fish that got away.'" – Paid-up subscriber Eric Arnow

"If you want an immediate example of when a company paying a special dividend doesn't work, look no further than TOPT, a tanker company that paid a special dividend a couple of years ago. I haven't checked it lately, but I wouldn't be surprised if it sold for even less today than it did immediately after the dividend payout. On another tack, why would anyone pay $500 for your special dividend alert when all they have to do is look at the dividend payouts in the Wall St. Journal?" – Paid-up subscriber George Earhart

Porter comment: Good point, George. It's true that not all dividend grabs work out, and that's why we make sure to recommend only opportunities that fit our dividend grab criteria. We scour a company's balance sheet and cash-flow statement to make sure it's solid enough to deliver gains after the special dividend payment.

Also, the best strategy for profiting from dividend grabs isn't always the same. By signing up for our service, we'll handle all of the complexities for you and tell you which company to buy for safe returns. In addition, Goldsmith will cover other special situations, including takeovers, spinoffs, and mergers, which also tend to provide market-beating returns – if you know what to look for.

"My only comment is about the food at the Fairmont Mayakoba – we thought it was about half-step below mediocre! The best meal we had was at a restaurant in Playa del Carmen, a Mayan place. I believe the name was Yaxche. I don't believe the Mayans enjoyed their meals with a Victoria, but I recommend it anyway." – Paid-up subscriber Dan Frankel

"...I have been looking forward to the Dividend grabber letter as I bought HMA and am up about 11% so far. What I wasn't impressed with was the amount you're charging for the subscription. The $1,000/$500 by April 2 is way too much for this type of service... I feel you may be out of touch with the common investor. It is this type of approach that gets you the reputation that your subscriptions are all a big rip-off... I wish you would reconsider your price for the Dividend Grabber and sell the subscription for the expected $200 range, which I would happily subscribe to." – Paid-up subscriber Rich D.

Porter comment: I'm reminded of a similar letter we received regarding Extreme Value. We'd been publishing for about a year. Everything Dan Ferris had recommended had gone up – as usual. The average gains were something like 35% – in a year. We got a letter taking us to task for charging $1,000 for the letter. It went on and on about how greedy we must be, how "crazy" it was that anyone would pay so much for a newsletter, etc, etc. It was signed by a Hall of Fame baseball player whose net worth is far in excess of $10 million. Apparently, catching fly balls in center field was worth $150,000 per game, but publishing nearly risk-free information that earns readers millions in profits? That's greedy?

"Having seen your 'Hall of Fame' now for several months, I am curious to know if anyone at Stansberry Research knows of any subscribers that actually held on to those picks for the time period indicated and reaped those tremendous gains?" – Paid-up subscriber Andrew Daines

Porter Comment: I'd like to hear about it, too. Anyone held onto these top-10 stocks long enough to realize the entire gain?

"I realize that Dr. David Eifrig Jr. takes a lot of heat for his S&A Health Report, and I would like to take some of that heat off him! I read, with great interest, his December 3, 2006, offering Prostate Cancer - What You Don't Know Can Kill You. In that [essay], he listed six symptoms of prostate cancer. I realized as I read his report that I had four of those six symptoms. I was shocked and scared. It took me awhile, but I finally made an appointment with an urologist for a PSA and DRE. I also made an appointment with my wife's doctor for a general check up. What you need to know is that I am 73-years old and haven't had a doctor's appointment for at least 40 years.

"Long story short, I have been diagnosed with prostate cancer and am about to start external radiation treatment and hormone treatment for my cancer. I had a bone scan and a CT Scan, and the cancer has not gotten into my bones or traveled to other parts of my body. It was caught in time. I thank God and Dr. David Eifrig for my extremely great luck. Thank you, Dr. Eifrig, for saving my life!" – Paid up subscriber Ron Putman

Regards,

Porter Stansberry

Playa del Carmen, Mexico

March 21, 2007

Stansberry & Associates Top 10 Open Recommendations

Stansberry & Associates Hall of Fame