China & Emerging Markets Report Ranked First
; Cabot Market Letter Ranked Sixth
Cabot was the only financial publisher to have two advisories in the Hulbert Financial Digest’s list of Top Ten Investment Newsletters of 2007. Cabot China & Emerging Markets Report was ranked number one with 74.1% return and Cabot Market Letter was ranked number six with 37.5% return.
Peter Brimelow of MarketWatch included the two Cabot investment letters in his announcement of the top ten newsletters in his December 27, 2007 column. This makes the second year in a row that Cabot China & Emerging Markets Report has claimed the top spot.
Three days later, in his December 30, 2007 column, Brimelow named Cabot China & Emerging Markets Report the 2007 Investment Letter of the Year in his column entitled Cabot’s Formidable Performance Best in 2007.
Here’s the full article reprinted from MarketWatch:
PETER BRIMELOW
And the winners are...
‘Rifle-shotting’ proves popular formula for some top letters
By Peter Brimelow, MarketWatch
Last update: 12:02 a.m. EST Dec. 27, 2007
NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- When I announced 2007’s Terrible Ten, the investment letters currently at the bottom of the performance ratings league table maintained by the Hulbert Financial Digest, I commented that it illustrated the dangers of what Mark Hulbert and I call “rifle-shotting” -- gambling on just a few stocks, rather than a diversified systematic selection. See Dec. 23 column.
This year’s Top Ten show rifle-shotting’s benefits. Risk can bring reward -- particularly if you’re in a hot sector. (See the table below for the full rundown.)
First and second in 2007 are China letters: Cabot’s China and Emerging Markers Report, up 74.1% vs. 7.51% for the dividend-reinvested Dow Jones Wilshire 5000; and China Stock Digest, up 58.4%.
But I noted recently that the Cabot letter has turned bearish, or at least cautious, about China. See column on Cabot.
China Stock Digest is a new letter, one that I profiled earlier this year. See July 8 column. It has moved to 60% cash too, although saying “things to continue to look strong for the economy in China, in spite of a real possibility of a recession here in the U.S.
However, China Stock Digest still recommends some stocks, albeit with strict buy and sell rules, for example: Aluminum Corp China Ltd. (ACH:48.36, -2.28, -4.5%) , Bank East Asia Ltd. (BKEAY: 6.95, +0.10, +1.5%) and China Netcom Group (CN: 58.52, -0.88, -1.5%) .
Diverging from a pattern I’ve noted in previous years, none of 2007’s Top Ten were in the bottom 10 last year. See 2006 Top Ten column.
But the Linde Equity Report, up 45%, was in the bottom 10 for 2005. See Dec. 22, 2005, column.
Linde, based in Canada but focused on the U.S., is also a rifle-shotting letter. Its longer-run record, according to the Hulbert Financial Digest, lags the market. But it got its system straight, or maybe got lucky, this year. See Sept. 3 column.
Another investment letter that suddenly seems to have got religion, or luck, is the technically-oriented Stock Market Leaders, up 49.7%. In this case, Stock Market Leaders’ longer term-record is good, up 16.68% annualized over the last five years vs. 12.85% annualized for the total-return DJ Wilshire 5000. But Stock Market Leaders is one of a number of other letters edited by Jay Saxena, most of which have not done well. See Oct. 11 column.
I’ve occasionally bashed quant-turned-out-of-the-closet hypster Louis Navellier for his wild promotion. See July 14, 2006, column.
So I should acknowledge his Blue Chip Growth Letter appearance in the Top Ten, up 25.5%.
But the paradox has always been that Navellier really does have a strong record and a sophisticated, systematic approach. See Oct. 30 column.
His Emerging Growth letter, focused on smaller-cap stocks, more or less matched the market this year, up 7.8%, but has beaten it over the much longer term.
Two letters new to Hulbert monitoring appear in this year’s Top Ten: Fidelity Independent Adviser, up 28.5%, and Alcosta Growth Report, up 25.78%. I’ll get to them in the New Year!
Cabot’s China and Emerging Markets Report 74.1%
China Stock Digest 58.4%
Stock Market Leaders 49.7%
Linde Equity Report 45.0%
Outstanding Investments 43.5%
Cabot Market Letter 37.5%
Fidelity Independent Advisor ETF Momentum Tracker 28.5%
Successful Investor 27.6%
Alcosta Growth Report 25.5%
Louis Navellier’s Blue Chip Growth Letter 25.5%
(Year to date through Nov. Dividend-reinvested Dow Jones Wilshire 5000: 7.51%)
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