How USIR Makes Money for Investors

USIR’s Investment Strategy:

Blending concentration with diversity to maximize gains and minimize risk

Those are the essentials of US Investment Report Editor Stephen Quickel’s investment strategy.

Read on to see how Steve describes his approach in his own words. Like US Investment Report, it is not long-winded but to-the-point and easy to follow.

How US Investment Report Makes Money for Investors

This is Stephen Quickel, Editor of US Investment Report.

USIR’s greatest strength is stock picking. Since 1985 I have consistently recommended stocks in that have significantly out-performed the major averages—in up and down markets. Coming up with winning stocks is the starting point. Here is how I package them into three successful model portfolios.

Concentration to Maximize Gains

To maximize the rewards of strong stock picking, USIR’s strategy is to concentrate the model portfolios in a relatively small number of leading stocks and sectors.

Mutual funds that are invested in scores of stocks dilute their performance by owning too many. But I am confident enough of my stock picking ability to concentrate my portfolios in just 12 to 15 stocks spread across 6 to 10 rapid-growth sectors. When these stocks rise rapidly their gains are not watered down by scores of lesser stocks.

Stock Selection is the Key

Concentration puts a premium on maintaining superior stock selection. USIR’s ability to do so is evident from my long-term track record. Since the end of 1995, including the recent bear market, the USIR concentrated portfolios have achieved the following gains:

See for yourself. Click here for a detailed report on the USIR track record.

Effective Diversity to Minimize Risk

Concentration increases risk, of course. To reduce that risk, I spread my portfolios into leading stocks in 6 to 10 of the very best growth sectors I can find. I call this “effective diversification” as opposed to the excessive diversity of mutual fund portfolios.

But the stocks and sectors must be reasonably priced. I avoid rapid growth sectors where stocks have become over-priced and the downside risk exceeds upside potential. But I also avoid sectors with lower price valuations where potential sales and earnings growth appears merely average. These stocks, sometimes mistakenly called value stocks, tend to under-perform the market and sap portfolio results.

Stop-Loss Limits to Preserve Capital

Preserving capital is just as important as ringing up large capital gains. USIR has successfully protected subscribers’ capital over the years by setting stop-loss limits on every portfolio stock, and raising them as prices rise.

Time after time, my stops have spared subscribers from serious losses when a stock or a sector or the whole market suddenly dips. Stops get us all out automatically, at a preset loss limit, before a 7% or 8% dip turns into a 20% or 30% disaster. If a stock recovers quickly, we can buy it back and ride it to the gain we had targeted. If it keeps going down, we have preserved the capital to buy other promising stocks.

The stops work. They’ve been a major tool in compiling USIR’s long-term track record. Investors who rode stocks down 25%, 50% and 75% in the last three years, hoping it would soon head up again, can appreciate the value of loss limits that might have gotten them out early with most of their capital intact.

USIR’s Strategy in a Nutshell

The essence of the time-tested USIR investment strategy:

• Concentration in small portfolios of reasonably priced leadership stocks.
• Effective diversification in a select group of rapid-growth sectors.
• Avoidance of large, overly diverse portfolios that dilute performance.
• Stop-loss limits on every portfolio position, raised as prices rise.

See for yourself. Click here for a trial subscription to US Investment Report.