Great Stuff’s House of Gain
Plug it up, plug it in … let me begin.
I came to win. Battle Great Stuff? That’s a sin. I won’t ever slack up, the market better back up.
So, if you came to get down with Great Stuff Reader Feedback … it’s time to get out of your seat and jump around!
By the way … have you seen Plug Power (Nasdaq: PLUG) today? It jumped more than 30%! More on that in a bit.
You’re in for a treat today, Great Ones: We’re reviewing the Great Stuff Picks portfolio. So, Ted B. and everyone else wondering where the portfolio is … you best pay attention!
Before we get to the portfolio, there are a few provisos … a couple quid pro quos.
First, the Great Stuff Picks portfolio is a free service … just like Great Stuff itself.
It doesn’t have all the bells and whistles of a paid service — like, say, Paul ’s Profits Unlimited. There is no official page, no permanent location and there’s no official schedule for new stock recommendations. We just run fast and loose like that!
Second, your best bet to find the official Great Stuff Picks portfolio — and our latest and greatest recommendations — is to read Great Stuff. Every. Day.
Make it a part of your well-balanced breakfast, and you can’t go wrong. (Miss a day by accident? That’s what the Great Stuff archives are for!)
Finally, for a quick rundown of just how Great Stuff Picks works, click here. Now that we’ve hit the overture … curtains and lights. This is it; you’ll hit the heights! And oh, what heights we’ll hit. On with the show, this is it!
The Hits Keep Coming
Y’all are doing phenomenal right now. Congratulations!
Great Stuff Picks’ total average gain on all open positions sits at 67.91% since inception, and your overall win rate is roughly 87%.
And that doesn’t even include today’s 30% gain in PLUG!
So, what’s up with Plug Power?
SK Group, South Korea’s third-largest conglomerate, announced it will invest $1.5 billion in Plug. What’s more, the duo will form a joint venture to provide hydrogen fuel cell systems, fueling stations and hydrogen production in South Korea and abroad.
This is huge, and it solidifies Plug Power as a global leader in the potentially $11 trillion hydrogen energy market.
It also puts Great Stuff Picks readers’ gain on PLUG at more than 200%!
As you can see from the full portfolio below, that’s our fourth 200%+ winner since Great Stuff began!
There it is. The Great Stuff Picks portfolio in all its glory (as of January 6, 2021). Notice the pretty colors? Well, they mean something.
Stocks shaded green are still buys, and they still have more upside.
Stocks shaded yellow are on hold. We’re either waiting for the right time to take profits or waiting for news to keep the faith alive (looking at you, BYND). Either way, we don’t recommend you buy in right now.
Finally, stocks shaded red are sells. That’s right: Today we’re taking profits on Clorox (NYSE: CLX) and ditching underperformer Citrix Systems (Nasdaq: CTXS).
I also recommend you ditch the optional hedge in the ProShares Short S&P 500 (NYSE: SH). While I still expect a market correction at some point, the hedge position is down so much that it will barely make a difference to the average portfolio.
So, let’s free up that capital to use elsewhere while I research a better way for Great Ones to protect against market downside risk.
For now, here are your actions to take:
Sell CLX.
Sell CTXS.
Sell SH.
Now, if you want more handholding, more recommendations, more more more! Might I suggest a fully loaded stock research service with all the bells and whistles? Something like the special project my colleague Ted Bauman has worked on for the past two years.
It’s a new kind of trading system that aims to help you make more profit in each trade than the S&P 500 has in the last five years!
In fact, Ted has closed out six winners since mid-November, with zero losing trades. And in a full five-year back test, this new system would have identified gains as big as 654% in as little as 30 days.
But don’t just take it from me — click here to learn more!
Now, let’s get right to answering your emails! If you haven’t written in yet, drop us a line at GreatStuffToday@BanyanHill.com. We don’t bite … unless you ask nicely.
If this is your first time tuning into Reader Feedback, welcome!
Today, we’re talking about Huston’s steel stocks and stock steals, Debbie’s crypto curiosity, plus Renee’s ties that bond and the bonds that tie. No, wait a minute…
We have a few deep dives here today, and I’m not waiting ‘round a second longer to dig in!
All ye latecomers, better luck next time — write in now so we can catch up with you a week from today.
Best Bonds? Connery, Obviously
Enjoyed your email today. I don’t understand bonds well. Wondered if you could send us info on how bonds affect the stock market… Need to learn more. Thank you!
— Renee N.
Thanks for writing in, Renee! You’ll have to forgive me here — I’m no bond expert myself, but I play one on TV.
The first thing to know is that bonds are debt instruments. For example, Treasuries are tradable assets that represent government debt. They have a fixed rate of return based on the Federal Reserve’s interest rate at the time they’re issued.
Because of this, bonds issued with a higher rate of return become more valuable as interest rates fall, and vice versa. Everyone and their mother issues bonds — corporations, municipalities, national governments — you name it.
As for their relation to stocks … bonds are a safe, guaranteed return. Not a sizeable return by any means, but it’s guaranteed.
Stocks are not safe, guaranteed returns. Hence, people buy stocks expecting to be rewarded for their risk. Bonds are used instead as long-term investments for their stability. If investors put more cash into bonds than stocks, it’s because they’re worried and want security. (Who doesn’t?)
Bonds have also been popular lately with the lofty thoughts of stimulus still top of mind. Treasury yields are still rising, and they just passed the 1% mark for the first time since March. The hope here is that more government spending will mean more bonds issued.
Now, the thing is, bonds don’t necessarily “affect” the stock market as many would expect. But watching what investors buy more of tells us about the market’s expectations for its future. Investors favoring bonds (or stocks) tells you how much risk investors will accept at any given point.
More bonds, less risk. More stocks, more risk. At least, that’s how it used to be when fund flows mattered…
Steely Dan
What are we thinking about some steel stocks these days? Or perhaps some stock steals? Either way. Looking forward to your response with great enthusiasm.
— Huston
Great enthusiasm about steel? How can I resist, Huston?
Now, the steel situation here is twofold: onshoring metal fabrication and soaring raw materials prices.
“Metal fab” is just the process used to shape and create steel parts, pieces, structures — and everything in between.
And the push to bring this steelwork stateside — aka, onshoring — runs into the rising costs of the steel itself right now.
I’d avoid anything directly tied to commodity prices, like Nucor (NYSE: NUE) or U.S. Steel (NYSE: X) … that ship has sailed. Both of their rallies look compelling, I know — every rally does.
But they’ll also continue facing headwinds with higher supply prices going forward, so that roaring growth is soon to peter out. (I hear there’s also a pandemic pressuring things a bit, so…)
I know there’s hype right now around industrials, and here’s your way in: automation. Companies that help streamline the manufacturing process will be in more demand without leaving you dangling in the breeze as steel prices gyrate.
Check out names like Rockwell Automation (NYSE: ROK) or Zebra Technologies (Nasdaq: ZBRA) or Honeywell International (NYSE: HON). Yes, Honeywell — the maker of everything from fans to flashlights, its fingers are also in the industrial automation cookie jar.
Metal fabrication businesses might hire a few people here and there, but we all know that automated machines are the future. And, if demand continues to rise for stateside manufacturing, steel fabricators will need more machines.
Long story short, steel-working companies themselves may not be your best bet for a continued steel price surge.
But, if you’re investing for the long term, you might want to check out some of these robot overlords that are building out the automated world — regardless of raw material prices that make or break individual metal assemblers.
We don’t have to reinvent the steel here — leave that to Pantera.
Common Coinage
Good evening, what are your thoughts on cryptocurrencies? I have been receiving emails regarding them. Thanks
— Debbie
Welcome to the crypto show, Debbie! I know I’ve sent you a few of those emails on cryptocurrencies myself. While Great Stuff hasn’t explicitly recommended a crypto yet, you bet we’re on top of the sector like cheese on toast.
Bitcoin is leagues away from its more humble, speculative origins, what with its recent sudden thrust back into the mainstream spotlight — and more acceptance for the crypto golden goose on Wall Street. I mean, you can already trade bitcoin options for crying out loud, which leads me to my next point.
The technobabble that makes cryptocurrencies like bitcoin possible — that ever-updated ledger we call the blockchain — is the top opportunity when talking about future digital security tech. End of story.
Yet, finding a pure-play on blockchain itself is a bit tricky.
Many businesses will use that blockchain tech as part of their operations or digital security — even Walmart (NYSE: WMT) uses it to keep tabs on its global food supply chain. But you’d be hard-pressed to narrow down a business that solely builds out the blockchain.
Which is why you see so many people chasing after random coins they heard someone push on Facebook. Yet, while bitcoin and the tech behind it are here to stay … trading in and around these coins is still very speculative. Potentially lucrative, yes … but speculative.
That’s why it pays to have a crypto guide in your corner; this crypto boom is a lot bigger than just bitcoin. Just think: Bitcoin was up 224% in 2020. Yet, in just over five months last year, Aave shot up over 2,500%, Bancor ran up 2,250% and SNX jumped 2,100%.
That’s roughly 10 times better than bitcoin — in less than half the time!
In Next Wave Crypto Fortunes, Ian King will show you how you can play this new crypto boom to potentially multiply your money 12 times, in just the next 12 months. Click here to see how!
Great Stuff: It Goes a Lil’ Something Like This
Thank you to Debbie, Huston, Renee and everyone else who wrote in! We appreciate each and every one of your emails … even if we can’t publish some of the ‘Stuff that lands in our inbox.
That said, why not make sure your voice is heard for next week’s edition of Reader Feedback? All you need to remember is our address: GreatStuffToday@BanyanHill.com.
Write it on your palm, stick this email on your e-fridge, sear it into your mind’s eye. Whatever you do, tell us your market tale and feel free to write to your trading heart’s content … whether that’s a three-word mic drop or a mini-novella manifesto!
Of course, you can also follow along with social media too: Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.
Until next time, be Great!
Joseph Hargett
Editor, Great Stuff