Blog - Investing Notes

January 28, 2010 - How About Barron's "Daily Stock Alert"?

A reader asked: "Have you done an analysis of the Barron's 'Daily Stock Alert' service?"

There is no review of Barron's "Daily Stock Alert" on CXOadvisory.com.

The promotional copy for the service available via the "Daily Stock Alert" tab on the Barron's web site states that:

"Fleming Meeks, editor of Barron's 'Daily Stock Alert,' is a seasoned financial journalist with 20 years' experience reporting and editing at Forbes, SmartMoney and, of course, at Barron's. He has spent his entire career seeking out stocks that are misunderstood by the crowd and, thus, mispriced in the market. His extensive experience allows him to ignore the chatter and noise of the trading scrum and focus on the hard facts to find attractive stocks - in the U.S. and abroad - with long-term, total-return potential."

The promotional copy also lists five "Latest Winning Picks" with gains ranging from 95% to 441% and offers a few positive qualitative testimonials. The promotional material does not provide a record of picks sufficient for statistical analysis. It seems doubtful that anyone who could reliably generate such gains would spend 20 years reporting and editing instead of getting rich trading.

In other words, the information Barron's makes publicly available about this service is inadequate to support any meaningful review (and, arguably, to make any decision about subscribing).

For research on the stock-picking performance of financial journalists and columnists, see "The Stock Picking Expertise of the Business Media" and "Slim Pickings Among Stock Picks of Columnists?".