I (Chris Lowe) showed you how colleague Teeka Tiwari knocked his cryptocurrency picks out of the park.
I also showed you how Palm Beach Trader editor Jason Bodner’s open recommendations more than doubled the return of U.S. stock market bellwether the S&P 500.
And we looked at how the top-performing stock pick (at this writing, ahead of Legacy’s holiday break) across all 17 Legacy Research model portfolios was a tiny psychedelic medicine stock.
MindMed (MMEDF), which Nick Giambruno added to our Crisis Investing model portfolio in March, shot up 1,282% before Nick issued a sell alert in December.
As stunning as these gains are… there are more outsized wins to cover that we didn’t get to yesterday.
So let’s jump back in…
One in particular stood out.
Our tech-investing expert, Jeff Brown, forecast the following…
2020 will be the biggest year for initial public offerings (IPOs) since 2001.
We will see the largest number of IPO filings… We will see the largest number of IPOs… We will see the largest number of technology IPOs… We will see the largest amount of money raised in technology IPOs… All in just the next 12 months.
He was spot-on.
As Jeff noted, IPO stands for initial public offering. It’s when a privately owned company lists its shares on a public stock exchange, such as the New York Stock Exchange, for the first time.
In short, it marks the first moment when regular investors can buy shares through their brokerage accounts.
As I covered for you in these pages, the IPO market got off to a rocky start in 2020 due to the pandemic. But it rapidly recovered in the second half of the year.
Last year, 383 U.S. companies went public. That’s the most in more than 20 years.
These companies raised a total of $144 billion. That’s an all-time record. It’s also 47% higher than the previous record haul, set in 2007.
And tech companies that went public last year in the U.S. raised a total of $15 billion. That’s a 35% jump higher from the previous record, set in 2000.
The Near Future Report is our flagship tech-investing advisory, where Jeff focuses on blue-chip tech stocks involved in bleeding-edge technology.
Last year, his top-gaining pick there was payment processor Square (SQ).
At this writing, Square is up 263% in 2020.
Then came cloud-based contracts company DocuSign (DOCU). It allows businesses and organizations to sign legally binding agreements electronically. Its share price gained 220% last year.
The next-best-performing pick at The Near Future Report was specialized chipmaker Nvidia (NVDA). It gained 125% last year.
The biotech boom I’ve been preparing you for was also a big winner.
A major focus at Jeff’s small-cap tech-investing advisory, Exponential Tech Investor, is what he calls the “God Key” – CRISPR gene editing. And it was a great year for readers who acted on Jeff’s God Key recommendations.
As of this writing, shares in Cambridge, Massachusetts-based CRISPR firm Intellia Therapeutics (NTLA) are up 258% since Jeff recommended the company in March. Another March recommendation, Switzerland-based CRISPR firm CRISPR Therapeutics (CRSP), is up 175%. And another Cambridge-based CRISPR firm, Beam Therapeutics (BEAM), is up 194% since Jeff recommended it in August.
That just scratches the surface. Out of the 53 open recommendations in the model portfolios at these two advisories, Jeff had 13 triple-digit wins last year.
Dave Forest is our resident “rock hound” (geologist). He’s also involved in financing mining projects around the world.
In his advisories, he explores the ever-evolving world of metals and mining, bringing readers the best opportunities to grow their wealth.
And he’s been closely following the metals that power today’s biggest tech trends. Here’s Dave with more…
There are a number of high-tech sectors that are reshaping the economy. My colleague Jeff Brown talks about them all the time – think 5G and the electric vehicle (EV) revolution. Well, there are strategic metals that power these tech trends.
He’s talking about the metals – which include lithium, cobalt, silver, and nickel – that are key ingredients in rechargeable lithium-ion batteries.
Dave is particularly bullish on lithium. That’s because demand for these metals will soar as we switch from cars and trucks that run on internal-combustion engines to vehicles that run on lithium-ion batteries. Dave…
Just think – you’ve undoubtedly heard lots of talk about the EV industry. Your neighbors know all about it. But when have you ever heard them mention lithium, the lifeblood of this industry?
Probably never. Almost no one’s looked below the surface to see what’s driving this megatrend…
But the numbers clearly show what’s happening. For years, there’s been more than enough lithium in the world to meet demand. But starting in 2020, rising demand from the EV sector is expected to suck up nearly every pound of lithium we have on the planet.
Dave has given his paid-up subscribers the chance at outsized gains from this megatrend. At our Strategic Investor advisory, two of Dave’s lithium mining picks, Lithium Americas (LAC) and Neo Lithium (NLC), gained 117% and 194%, respectively, last year.
As regular Cut readers know, we see the mother of all gold rallies in the making.
The COVID-19 pandemic… and the lockdowns governments imposed in response… put a huge dent in economic growth.
This prompted governments and central banks worldwide to unleash record amounts of stimulus to prop up their economies.
In total, they injected the equivalent of more than $13 trillion into the global money supply.
This has drawn investors’ attention to the inflation-fighting properties of gold. (Read more about how this works here.)
As I type, the price of an ounce of gold bullion is up 24% for the year.
But Dave’s preferred method of profiting from the gold boom is via gold mining stocks.
That’s because gold miners give you extra oomph over the gold price.
As the price of gold rises, so does the sales revenue of the companies that extract gold from the ground. But their costs remain the same. This sets them up for higher profits as gold rises.
We saw this play out during the last gold bull market, from 2008 to 2011. The price of gold rose 170%. But the VanEck Vectors Gold Miners ETF (GDX), which tracks the share prices of 52 major global gold mining companies, ripped 320% higher.
In 2020, gold rose as much as 36%. And GDX saw gains as high as 52%.
But those are peanuts compared to the returns our International Speculator readers have had the chance to make based on Dave’s recommendations.
Dave’s top two gold mining picks – Vizsla Resources (VZLA) and Pure Gold Mining (PGM) gained 240% and 257% last year.
This just scratches the surface of the gains Dave has delivered in the model portfolio.
Across Strategic Investor and International Speculator, four gold mining picks tripled in price in 2020. Another seven saw their share prices double.
As regular readers will know, two years ago, Tom converted all his savings and investments into gold.
That’s because, like Dave, he sees a massive gold rally ahead as governments and central banks debase the currencies they issue.
As Tom puts it…
The Fed’s balance sheet is hyperinflating as it desperately attempts to “reinflate” the debt bubble. I’m starting to think the entire world monetary order is about to be rewritten, with gold at its center.
And I ask myself: Does this favor stocks or gold over the next 10 years? I think it undoubtedly favors gold.
That’s why he set up Tom’s Portfolio, our only advisory here at Legacy that focuses on the gold boom ahead.
In 2020, Tom recommended eight “gold optionality” positions. These are tiny, cheap gold miners that are best set to experience the largest percentage gains when gold rises.
That’s worked out very well for Tom’s paid-up readers.
At this writing, four of them are up triple digits – or damned close. The top gainer, Taseko Mines (TGB), is up 180% since Tom recommended it in May.
And the average gain of these 10 plays is 55%.
You may think these gains are “normal”…
But they’re anything but…
For comparison, as I type, U.S. stock market bellwether the S&P 500 is up 15% in 2020. And the tech-heavy Nasdaq is up 42%.
So congratulations if you acted on one or more of these recommendations our team made during the year. You’re sitting on eye-popping gains.
And as I’ll show you next week… we have plenty of ideas for how you and your fellow readers can do the same – if not better – in 2021.
I hope you have a wonderful New Year’s Day.
Regards,
Chris Lowe
January 1, 2021
Bray, Ireland