On this week's Stansberry Investor Hour, Dan welcomes Rob Spivey back to the show. Rob is the director of research at our corporate affiliate Altimetry. He and his team utilize their proprietary Uniform Accounting strategy to dig through the as-reported numbers in company reports to find their true value.

Rob kicks things off by posing a topic of debate with Dan regarding the Federal Reserve cutting interest rates. The two follow up by sharing their thoughts on the long-running AI narrative. Rob expresses how the talk of an AI bubble is producing a "fear of getting in," which keeps people from buying stocks. And he shares his team's thoughts on several market areas where government regulation could provide opportunities...

Any of these areas that really have been hamstrung for the last little bit, we think are areas where there's going to be a big surge in [mergers and acquisitions (M&A)]... When that happens, you can see upwards of 100% or 120% pop in a stock in literally a day. Normally it's 20% to 40%, but sometimes you can see a whole lot more than that. And this is what we see even in names we've recommended before.

Next, Rob reflects on how 22 companies recommended by Altimetry publications were acquired over the past six years. He then lists the catalysts that are key targets for company acquisitions. In the midst of opinions and market fear, Rob stresses the importance of trusting the data. And he says that even though the market is currently weak, it was due for a cooldown based on history...

We did an analysis of 1994 to 2000. And one of the things that jumped out to us is that everyone looks at the Nasdaq chart, and they go, "From here to here: 600%. Wow!" But the important thing to remember from that 600% is there were 10 – 10 – 10%-plus drawdowns in that market... We're going to have pullbacks.

Finally, Rob shares three steps to picking a great stock according to some of the greatest investors. He says that these three things can help provide consistent wins in the market. This leads to Dan and Rob discussing the benefit of finding a stock with consistent dividends that an investor would hold on to, whether the price goes up or down. And Rob reiterates the importance of not staying out of the market...

Do not sleep on the opportunity that is out there right now... We're about to see a surge of M&A, and there are going to be three big beneficiaries of that that are going to be the right places for you to put your portfolio... [Identify] great strategic acquirers, [identify] the investment banks that are going to participate in being able to make fees from it... and try to identify which are the obvious acquisition targets.

Click on the image below to watch the video interview with Ben right now. For the audio version, click "Listen" above.

(Additional past episodes are located here.)

The transcript is coming soon.

This Week's Guest

Rob Spivey is the director of research at our corporate affiliate Altimetry. He leads a team using their proprietary Uniform Accounting framework to deliver equity, credit, and macro research... often leading to market-beating returns you won't find anywhere else.

Rob's rich background spans his time as a hedge-fund analyst advising some of the largest investment managers in the world. He has appeared on CNBC and been quoted in Barron's, Bloomberg, U.S. News & World Report, and Forbes. He has presented at Northeastern University, DePaul University, and Hult International Business School, and has been a judge at the CFA Institute Research Challenge.