Hot List Newsletter

Most Recent Hot List Issues

3 most recent issues require subscription. Historical issues can be viewed free of charge.

12/20/2013

Validea Hot List

Peter Lynch and Martin Zweig Portfolios Lead the Way as Guru Models Outperform in 2013

2013 was a very strong year for the market, and an even better year for our guru models. Ten of the fourteen 10-stock portfolios we track are beating the market, most by a wide margin. These 14 portfolios have averaged a 35.6% return this year, 8.6 percentage points better than the S&P 500. Leading the way have been the Peter Lynch-inspired portfolio, up 64.1%, and the Martin Zweig-based portfolio, up 60.8%

12/6/2013

Validea Hot List

Examining the Strategy behind The Little Book that Beats the Market

In this issue, we look at the strategy of Joel Greenblatt, the successful hedge fund manager and the author of the 2005 best seller, The Little Book that Beats the Market. Included in the newsletter are the top 10 scoring stocks based on Greenblatt's simple, yet powerful, formula that looks at return on invested capital and earnings yield.

11/22/2013

Validea Hot List

What is All the Talk About Bubble Trouble in Today's Market?

Could the market be nearing bubble territory after the great run so far this year? We try to answer this question by looking at the cold, hard facts and current valuations.

11/8/2013

Validea Hot List

The Top Ten Stocks From the Buffettology Strategy

The book Buffettology is the basis for Validea's Buffett-based stock selection model. In this issue, we take a deeper look at the criteria used in the model and also list the top scoring stocks based on the Oracle of Omaha's value investing approach.

10/25/2013

Validea Hot List

What the Government Shutdown and Market Timing Can Teach Us

Throughout history, investors have feared the worst when crises have hit, and usually their fears turn out to be worse than the reality. There is important investing lessons to be gained from looking at the most recent issues in Washington and other historical events.

10/11/2013

Validea Hot List

An Economic Update and Portfolio Review

The recent jobs figures and economic data show the US economy is doing well as we head into late 2013. The Validea Hot is on track for what could be a banner year for the portfolio.

9/27/2013

Validea Hot List

The Ever-Present Stock-Picker's Market

While the talk of "stock-picker's markets" (or lack thereof) has been prominent over the past several years, it's a bit of a fallacy. That's because the truth is that it's always a stock-picker's market.

9/13/2013

Validea Hot List

Uniting Value and Growth Criteria into a Top Stock Picking Strategy

In this issue of the Hot List, we highlight the research conducted by James O'Shaughnessy in his book "What Works On Wall Street." O'Shaughnessy's long term research on simple quantitative strategies were major developments in the world of systematic, fundamental based investing.

8/30/2013

Validea Hot List

The Sultan of Swat, Syria, and Storytelling

How the story of Babe Ruth's "called shot", a baseball tale that has grown over the years, relates to investing in today's headline driven market.

8/16/2013

Validea Hot List

Contrarian Investment Strategies Explained

A look at the deep value, or contrarian, model outlined by David Dreman. In this book, "Contrarian Investment Strategies", Dreman looked for mid to large size firms trading a significant discounts to the market with improving fundamentals.

8/2/2013

Validea Hot List

The Market's Valuation Situation Revisited

In this issue, we take a look at the market's overall valuation through multiple lenses - Shiller P/E, Tobin's Q, Price-to-Sales ratio and the Stock Market/GDP ratio - to determine where we stand at today's levels.

7/19/2013

Validea Hot List

Ken Fisher and the Important of the Price-to-Sales Ratio

For decades, the price-to-earnings ratio has been the most widely used valuation measure for stock investors, but Ken Fisher in the 1980s explained the limitations of the P/E ratio and outlined his reasons why the Price-to-Sales ratio was a superior valuation metric.

7/5/2013

Validea Hot List

The Cash Conundrum

The downside of holding too much cash in your long term investment portfolio.

6/21/2013

Validea Hot List

Peter Lynch's "Buy What you Know" Was Only Part of his Investing Genius

Taking a closer look at Peter Lynch's Growth At A Reasonable Price investment strategy and the top scoring stocks according to Validea's Lynch inspired model.

6/7/2013

Validea Hot List

The Rewards -- and Challenges -- of Keeping It Simple When Investing

As Warren Buffett once said, "Investing is simple but it's not easy. The reason it's not easy is because emotions get in people's ways." In this issue of the Hot List, we discuss the benefits of following fundamental strategies that are simple, disciplined and repeatable.

5/24/2013

Validea Hot List

Ben Graham's "Defensive Investor" Approach and Ten Unloved Value Names

Validea's Benjamin Graham-inspired strategy is finding bargains across a variety of areas of the market. In this issue, we discuss the current holdings of the 10-stock Graham portfolio.

5/10/2013

Validea Hot List

A Review of the Current Economic Picture and Market's Valuation

Economic data continues to produce hits and some misses, but valuations of equities still look relatively reasonable. Also included is an update on the Hot List portfolio so far this year.

4/26/2013

Validea Hot List

P/E Ratio: The Heart of John Neff's Investment Philosophy

Spotlighting the John Neff investment approach - "relatively prosaic, dull, conservative" - but one focused on fundamentals and the long term. The P/E ratio and multiple other factors are key to this approach.

4/12/2013

Validea Hot List

The Bull Market Turns Four

The current Bull Market's four year anniversary and a few important lessons for long term stock investors.

3/29/2013

Validea Hot List

Martin Zweig - A Serious Growth Strategy

The Growth Investor model, which has nearly doubled the S&P 500 since July of 2003, is explained. The strategy is built on the approach outlined by the famous growth investor, Martin Zweig.

3/15/2013

Validea Hot List

The Downside of Trying to Time the Market

As stocks continue to head higher and higher, it gets more and more tempting to try to call a market top. We look at the risk of trying to time the market and why most investors shouldn't even try unless they are willing to be wrong.

3/1/2013

Validea Hot List

A Value Strategy that Dives Deep Into the Balance Sheet

If you haven't heard of Joseph Piotroski, you're not alone. He's probably the least well-known of the investment "gurus" who inspired the strategies on Validea. In this edition of the Hot List, we look at the Piotroski model and the variables that it analyzes.

2/15/2013

Validea Hot List

What It Takes To Win in Investing Over The Long Run

Having an understanding of market history, successful strategies, and the traits of investors who have proven to perform over time can help you become a better, more successful investor in the long run.

2/1/2013

Validea Hot List

A Non-Random Walk Through Graham and Doddsville

In this issue, we look at the speech from Warren Buffett in 1984, "The Superinvestors of Graham-and-Doddsville", and discuss our value investing models - why they work, what can go wrong, and how to benefit from them in the long run.

1/18/2013

Validea Hot List

Fear Factors Causing Market to Climb a Wall of Worry

As we start the year, investors seem to be fearing the worst of all outcomes, but just as markets do often times, the price action shows that stocks are resiliant and can advance and climb a "Wall of Worry."

1/4/2013

Validea Hot List

The Year in Review: A Look at the Best and Worst Performers of 2012

2012 was an above average year for the market, and Validea's Top Performers included The Hot List, our Ben Graham model and our Warren Buffett-based portfolio.
Performance Disclaimer: Returns presented on Validea.com are model returns and do not represent actual trading. As a result, they do not incorporate any commissions or other trading costs or fees. Model portfolios with inception dates on or after 12/30/2005 include a combination of back tested and live model returns. The back-tested performance results shown are hypothetical and are not the result of real-time management of actual accounts. The back-testing of performance differs from actual account performance because the investment strategy may be adjusted at any time, for any reason and can continue to be changed until desired or better performance results are achieved. Back-tested returns are presented to provide general information regarding how the underlying strategy behind the portfolio performed in our historical testing. A back-tested strategy has the benefit of hindsight and the results do not reflect the impact that material economic or market factors may have had on advisor's decision-making if actual client assets were being managed using this approach. The model portfolios offered on Validea are concentrated and as a result they will exhibit high levels of volatility and their performance can be substantially impacted by the performance of individual positions.

Optimal portfolios presented on Validea.com represent the rebalancing period that has led to the best historical performance for each of our equity models. Each optimal portfolio was determined after the fact with performance information that was not available at portfolio inception. As a result, an investor could not have invested in the optimal portfolio since its inception. Optimal portfolios are presented to allow investors to quickly determine the portfolio size and rebalancing period that has performed best for each of our models in our historical testing.

Both the model portfolio and benchmark returns presented for all equity portfolios on Validea.com are not inclusive of dividends. Returns for our ETF portfolios and trend following system, and the benchmarks they are compared to, are inclusive of dividends. The S&P 500 is presented as a benchmark because it is the most widely followed benchmark of the overall US market and is most often used by investors for return comparison purposes. As with any investment strategy, there is potential for profit as well as the possibility of loss and investors may incur a loss despite a past history of gains. Past performance does not guarantee future results. Results will vary with economic and market conditions.

Validea.com is a research provider that is owned and operated by The Reese Group, LLC. Validea.com offers model portfolios, screening and stock analysis that is not customized to any individual. No information on Validea.com should be construed as investment advice. Validea Capital Management is a separate investment advisory firm registered with the state of Connecticut. Validea Capital offers investment management services directly to clients and is a separate entity from The Reese Group, LLC. The Reese Group and Validea Capital are affiliated entities and share partial common ownership.