Extreme Value Review (Legit Dan Ferris Advisory?)

Hi, and welcome to my review of Dan Ferris’ Extreme Value service.

I decided to look into this service after stumbling across a recent Stansberry Research presentation centered around Dan Ferris’ 10-Stock Inflation Protection Portfolio.

In short, I wanted to know more before shelling out almost $1,500 for stock tips. And in this post, I’ll show you everything I learned about the service, including how it works, who Dan Ferris is, and what you get if you decide to join.

I’ll also share my opinion on whether or not it’s legitimate and worth joining to help you make a more informed choice about getting started.

What Is Extreme Value?

Extreme Value is a Stansberry Research advisory service edited by Dan Ferris, and it’s focused on helping subscribers find “low-risk, cheap stocks.”

According to Stansberry Research, Dan Ferris uses a “classic value-investing philosophy” to help subscribers make “some of the biggest, safest returns” in the stock market.

What exactly is a “classic value-investing” philosophy?

Value investing is an investment strategy that involves identifying stocks trading at a discount to their “true worth.” In other words, it’s about finding quality, undervalued stocks. And it’s a philosophy typically embraced by long-term investors.

Some of the most well-known value investors include Warren Buffet, Benjamin Graham, and Peter Lynch, but there are many others. And one of the most popular, comprehensive books on value-investing is Benjamin Graham’s The Intelligent Investor.

How do you know if a stock is “cheap?”

Not all value investors are alike, but the process usually begins with identifying a stock’s intrinsic value. This involves looking at fundamentals like the industry the company’s in, its business model, brand, and whether or not there’s a “moat” around its business. It also involves analyzing the company’s financials like revenue, profit, and free cash flow.

Then, once the “true” value of the stock has been identified, the next step is determining whether or not the stock is “cheap” based on the current share price.

In this way, value investing can theoretically help investors find stocks with high upside potential and low downside risk, given it centers around finding quality stocks trading at a discount. And that, in a nutshell, is what Extreme Value is all about.

Of course, there are always risks involved with investing. Even with a good strategy, there’s still a lot that can go wrong. But value investing is a time-tested strategy, and this is the philosophy Dan Ferris uses to find stocks to share with Extreme Value subscribers.

In the next section, I’ll walk you through how the service works in more detail to give you a better idea of what to expect should you decide to join.

How Does the Extreme Value Service Work?

The core idea behind the Extreme Value service is to provide subscribers with Dan Ferris’ investment analysis, insights, and recommendations.

Each month, Dan Ferris shares his latest market analysis and details his investment idea in the newsletter. This includes the name of the company, ticker, and why his research suggests it could be a worthwhile investment.

According to Stansberry Research, he “spends hundreds of hours each month poring over balance sheets and SEC filings to find stocks trading at huge discounts to their true worth.” This doesn’t guarantee Ferris’ picks will work out, but the idea is that he does the research for you, potentially saving you time and effort in finding high-potential stocks.

And once you’ve read the research associated with his picks, you can decide whether or not you want to follow his recommendations using your brokerage account.

Subscribers also receive weekly updates every Tuesday designed to inform you of any changes or updates to Dan Ferris’ recommendations. For example, he provides tips on when to add to your positions and when to sell.

On top of that, you get access to the model portfolio that shows you all of Dan Ferris’ active recommendations and educational resources aimed at helping you become a successful investor in your own right.

This includes The Extreme Value Handbook, a guide that walks you through Dan Ferris’ full investment strategy, special reports on different investments he’s put together, training videos, and a list of his favorite past issues.

So, this service gives you more than just a list of stock picks; you get everything you need to learn about Dan Ferris’ investment philosophy and become a better investor.

How do you get started?

To get started with Extreme Value, you first need to visit the Stansberry Research website and purchase a subscription.

According to Dan Ferris, the usual price for a 12-month Extreme Value subscription is $2,000, but it depends on which page you sign up on.

For example, if you joined through Dan Ferris’ “Next Great Crash” presentation I recently wrote about, it costs $1,495 for two years. Or, if you sign up directly through the Stansberry Research website, there’s an offer that allows you to join for $1,200 for 12 months.

In any case, once you’ve signed up, you get access to the member’s area on the Stansberry Research website, which gives you everything you need to get started.

Does Extreme Value Have a Good Track Record?

Extreme Value launched 20 years ago in 2002, and the Stansberry Research website doesn’t disclose the service’s performance since its inception. However, it does state that Dan Ferris has recommended 21 triple-digit investments over the past few years.

“Over the past few years, Dan’s recommended 21 different opportunities to see triple digit gains, like 248% on International Royalty and as high as 564% on Automatic Data Processing(ADP).”

Source: stansberryresearch.com/products/extreme-value

And according to a recent presentation I wrote about (see the link I just shared), Dan Ferris’ Extreme Value service saw an average annualized gain of 78% in 2020.

“Keep in mind, the average annualized return from Extreme Value in 2020 was 78%. This return measures the results achieved by all of our recommendations in 2020, scaled to a one-year period.”

So, while that doesn’t give us the entire picture, the service appears to have performed well based on what Dan Ferris and Stansberry Research states. It also seems as though Dan Ferris has predicted numerous market downturns in advance.

For instance, Stansberry Research says he predicted the 2008 financial crisis and recommended shorting Lehman Brothers before they went bankrupt. He also warned his followers about the 2011 and 2015 market declines and warned people that bitcoin could fall in price in December 2017 before the bear market.

Of course, the price of bitcoin more than tripled several years later. And since 2017, it has been embraced by millions of people, including numerous billionaires, not to mention some of the world’s largest banks and investment firms. So it’s debatable if that call was helpful or not if it spooked some people out of a potentially worthwhile long-term play.

In any case, Dan Ferris appears to have made some notable calls over the years, and his subscribers have no doubt benefited from his stock picks.

That’s not to say Extreme Value will continue performing well in the future. As with any investment advisory service, there’s no guarantee you’ll make money or avoid losing money following the recommendations you receive as a subscriber.

However, Extreme Value has been around for two decades as of writing and appears to have built a strong track record in that time.

Who Is Dan Ferris?

Dan Ferris is the editor of Extreme Value. He joined Stansberry Research, the Baltimore-based financial publishing company that publishes the service, in 2000.

Before that, Dan Ferris’ Linkedin profile states that Bill Bonner hired him to run commodities and mining advisory in the late 1990s.

Bill Bonner is the founder of Agora, one of the largest financial publishers in the world. He’s almost like the “godfather” of the investment advisory space. He’s also behind Three Founders Publishing, which publishes the George Gilder Report.

It’s unclear what Ferris did before getting into financial education, but he is a genuine investment expert. He’s made numerous appearances on shows including The Street and Fox Business News, and his work has been featured in Barron’s, among others.

Dan Ferris has also interviewed some of the biggest names in finance over the years, and aside from editing Extreme Value, he’s hosted the weekly Stansberry Investor Hour podcast and often shares his insights on the Stansberry Youtube channel.

Is Extreme Value a Legitimate Service?

Extreme Value is a legitimate service. It’s published by Stansberry Research, a reputable company with over a million subscribers globally. And it’s edited by Dan Ferris, who has over 20 years of experience and a solid track record.

So it’s not a scam. However, that doesn’t mean you’re guaranteed to profit as a member of Extreme Value because nobody can predict the markets.

It’s also worth noting that Stansberry Research doesn’t provide a cash refund with the Extreme Value service. So if you sign up and find it’s not for you, there’s no getting your money back. However, they do provide a 30-day refund credit.

This means that if you join and decide it’s not for you during your first 30 days, you can request a refund credit to use on a different Stansberry Research service.

From what I understand, this is to stop people signing up, accessing all the stock picks and reports, and refunding. But either way, I don’t think this makes the service illegitimate.

If anything, it means it might be worth spending some time learning from Dan Ferris’ free material first before signing up. That way, you can better understand his investment philosophy before buying anything.

You may also find it helpful to check out reviews from other sites to get a feel for what others are saying about Extreme Value. Although the service has mostly positive reviews from what I’ve seen and nothing I’ve come across has suggested it’s a scam.

Bottom Line: Should You Join?

Overall, I think the Extreme Value service would mostly suit those interested in long-term value investing since that’s the central theme of the service.

However, aside from value, Dan Ferris’ picks include commodity, mining, and infrastructure-related investments and small-cap stocks. So the service might suit investors interested in smaller companies in these sectors.

On the other hand, the service probably isn’t ideal if you’re looking for the latest tech stock ideas or a service dedicated to investing in emerging trends.

And there are some good alternatives for those interested in value investing. For example, I recently reviewed Lyn Alden’s Premium Research service. This is similar to Extreme Value in that it’s a value-focused advisory, but Lyn takes a more global macro approach; her picks are diversified across multiple asset classes, sectors, and geographies.

In any case, Extreme Value is a high-value service (no pun intended), so it could be worthwhile depending on your investment preferences, goals, and budget.

And hopefully, what I’ve shared in this post helps you make a more informed choice either way. I’m also keen to hear your thoughts on Extreme Value, so if there’s anything you’d like to share, go ahead and comment below.