Oxford Growth Investor: Legit Matthew Carr Service?

Hi, and welcome. I discovered the Oxford Growth Investor service while looking into a presentation by Matthew Carr about the “ultimate growth stock for under $10.”

In short, it’s a company that makes microLED screens which he says could make investors big money. And I reveal the stock I believe he’s teasing in the article I just linked to.

Anyway, that presentation was used to promote Oxford Growth Investor. So today, I’m taking a look at this service to see what it’s all about and find out if it’s worth joining.

Overview of Oxford Growth Investor

Oxford Growth Investor is an investment newsletter run by Matthew Carr and David Fessler of The Oxford Club aimed at helping subscribers generate “10-bagger” returns in under ten years.

According to the Oxford Club website, the duo believes “you don’t have to wait 10 years to score a 10-bagger” and have catered the service to those who value safety and want 1,000% gains.

… with Oxford Growth Investor, we wanted to offer something that catered to everyone, from those who value safety above all else… to those who want to shoot for 1,000% gains in just a year or two.

Source: https://pro.oxfordclub.com/p/GROWTHTO79ORELT2YRDSTBLTBLLTOMT/EOREXAGT/Full

That sounds like something that would appeal to a lot of people. I mean, who wouldn’t want to “safely” make 10X gains in a year or two?

Of course, there’s no guarantee you’ll make 1,000% gains, and there’s risk involved with any investment, but that’s the goal. Oxford Growth Investor is all about targeting high-growth potential stocks.

And there are two model portfolios, so you have a choice about which stock recommendations you want to follow based on your own preference and risk tolerance.

One set of recommendations caters more to conservative investors, while the other is more speculative as it involves using options to boost returns. But either way, all of the stocks Matthew Carr and David Fessler recommend are “high-growth potential” stocks.

What are “high-growth” stocks?

A growth stock is a stock that’s expected to rally at a higher than average rate compared to the overall market. These companies are often found in growth sectors like technology or are attempting to capitalize on an emerging trend. They also typically have smaller market caps.

Think Amazon, Netflix, and Tesla before they rocketed.

On the plus side, growth stocks can present an opportunity to see higher than average gains, but they are generally considered to be higher risk, too. So you need to know what you’re doing.

What sectors does the service focus on?

Oxford Growth Investor is mainly focused on the tech sector.

Some of the main recommendations as of writing center around things like 5G, blockchain, electric vehicles (EVs), and the Internet of Things (IoT).

Not to mention, as I explain in this article, Matthew Carr is currently recommending a small tech company that makes Micro-LED screens for things like smartphones, laptops, and TVs.

Growth stocks in industries like this aren’t exactly suited to risk-averse investors. So no matter which way you cut it, there are far more conservative advisories out there.

However, according to The Oxford Club website, this service has been designed to “consistently beat the market – without unnecessary risk.”

And this primarily comes down to how the model portfolios are structured.

A model portfolio is essentially a list of stocks that the advisory recommends. Including details like the ticker, date the stock was recommended, how well it has performed, and so on.

And Oxford Growth Investor has two model portfolios that each contain different recommendations. The first model portfolio is called the “Best-in-Class Portfolio,” and the second is the “Safe Speculation Portfolio.”

How Does the “Best-in-Class Portfolio” Work?

The Best-in-Class Portfolio makes up 60% of the Oxford Growth Stock recommendations. And it consists of what Matthew Carr describes as the “fastest-growing companies” with “game-changing innovations” in the most disruptive sectors.

And according to Matthew Carr, the criteria behind finding these stocks is rooted in something called the “RPM Investment Strategy.”

What’s that?

Matthew Carr says RPM stands for Revenue, Potential, and Momentum.

The “revenue” part of the strategy is about finding companies with substantial revenue growth, the “potential” is about finding companies with market-disrupting innovations, and the “momentum” part has to do with how much momentum there is pushing the stock higher.

Other than that, there’s not much information out there as to how the RPM strategy works. The Oxford Club website simply says it’s “proprietary” and “provides long-term investors with a healthy assortment of high-growth recommendations.”

Either way, it seems as though this is the less speculative portfolio of the two, and at 60% of the recommended stocks, it makes up the bulk of stock picks you receive as a subscriber.

How Does the “Safe Speculation Portfolio” Work?

The Safe Speculation Portfolio makes up the remaining 40% of stock recommendations.

And according to the Oxford Club website, this portfolio gives you the chance to “turbocharge your returns – and consistently beat the market – without unnecessary risk.”

As the name suggests, this is the more speculative portfolio of the two. However, while the goal is to help you “turbocharge” your returns, the stock recommendations in this portfolio also involve a so-called “safe speculation” strategy called LEAPS.

What’s that?

According to Investopedia:

Long-term equity anticipation securities (LEAPS) are publicly traded options contracts with expiration dates that are longer than one year, and typically up to three years from issue. They are functionally identical to most other listed options, except with longer times until expiration.

So LEAPS (Long-Term Equity Anticipation Securities) are essentially longer-term options.

And in case you’re not familiar with how options work, these are contracts that give you the right, not the obligation, to buy or sell the underlying asset (like shares) at or before the agreed date.

As an options trader, you don’t own the underlying shares; you’re more or less speculating on whether the underlying stock’s price goes up or down.

There are many different options trading strategies, but there are four main ways you can trade options when you boil it all down. You can buy or sell a call option, or you can buy or sell a put option. And each strategy has its own set of risks and rewards.

Anyway, from what I understand, the “turbocharge” aspect of the Safe Speculation Portfolio recommendations involves buying longer-term call options.

On the plus side, buying call options can multiply your gains if the stock goes up. So it can be a way to turn a smaller stake into relatively higher profits than buying regular shares.

However, options can also multiply your losses if the share price goes down. And if it goes down too much, you can lose the entire amount you put into the trade. Whereas, if you owned the shares, you could still hope to recover your losses someday in the future.

So there are pros and cons to consider, as with any strategy.

In any case, as a member of Oxford Growth Investor, you’re essentially trusting Matthew Carr and David Fessler to recommend great stocks while also helping you manage the risk.

Of course, they don’t place any trades for you, but the idea is that they give you everything you need to follow their recommendations. From there, you can choose whether or not you want to follow their recommendations using your own brokerage account.

How have their stock picks performed?

Oxford Growth Investor is a brand new service, so it doesn’t have a very long track as of writing. However, as I’ll explain in the next section, Matthew Carr and David Fessler have recommended some great stocks over the years in connection with other advisories they run.

Who’s Behind Oxford Growth Investor?

Oxford Growth Investor is published by The Oxford Club and edited by Matthew Carr and David Fessler. Together, they are the ones providing the research and stock tips.

Matthew Carr

Matthew Carr is the Chief Trends Strategist for The Oxford Club and contributes to the following five advisory services the company publishes:

• Oxford Growth Investor
• Trailblazer Pro
• Dynamic Fortunes
• The VIPER Alert
• Profit Trends

He was also the editor of another Oxford Club service called Strategic Trends Investor. However, it seems as though Oxford Growth Investor has replaced this service.

I say this because Strategic Trends Investor was a similar, entry-level service he ran, and the website (strategictrendsinvestor.com) is more or less a promo for Oxford Growth Investor.

I’m not sure why they’ve replaced it, but Strategic Trends Investor seems to have been a good advisory, it has a good rating on StockGumshoe, and most reviews seem positive.

Before editing these services, the company website states that Matthew Carr wrote for several energy trade publications, including Gas Market Reconnaissance, Natural Gas Week, and Oil Daily. His work has also been featured in Forbes, Business Credit magazine, Politico, and The Street.

All told, Matthew Carr has over two decades of financial experience, and according to his Oxford Club profile, his insights have led to “countless outsized gains.”

What stocks has he recommended?

I’m not sure that there’s a publicly available list of all the stocks he’s recommended or anything that shows the average return of his recommendations. And Oxford Growth Investor is a brand new service, so it’s too early to tell how his stock picks have performed with this service.

However, in the presentation, he does provide two examples of stocks he’s recommended over the past year (ish) through other services.

For example, he says he recommended MindMed to readers on September 16, 2020, which worked to a 1,050% gain in less than a year. And Square on June 8, 2020, using the LEAPS strategy I mentioned earlier, for a 1,478% gain.

David Fessler

David Fessler is The Oxford Club’s “Cheif Engineering Strategist” and has over 50 years of experience under his belt.

I first came across Mr. Fessler through a different service he edits called Extreme Disruptions Trader. Aside from Oxford Growth Investor, this is the primary advisory he runs.

He’s also known for his Tesla prediction. According to his profile on The Oxford Club website, David Fessler recommended Tesla when it was trading at its split-adjusted price of $8 per share. It’s unclear when he suggested selling, but considering Tesla is currently trading for around$865 per share, picking it at $8 is a good call.

It also means he’s well-suited to the Oxford Growth Investor service since it’s all about recommending emerging tech stocks.

Anyway, aside from the newsletter business, David Fessler’s background is in electrical engineering, and he published a book in 2019 called The Energy Disruption Triangle.

And if you want to get a better idea of the types of stocks he recommends, then check out my Extreme Disruptions Trader review. In it, I share my guess on a couple of stocks he’s teasing.

The Oxford Club

The Oxford Club is a financial publishing company based in Baltimore, MD.

According to the website, the company was once known as The Passport Club. However, it was renamed The Oxford Club in 1991 by its parent company, The Agora.

What’s The Agora?

The Agora is a publishing company founded by a man named Bill Bonner, and it owns dozens of individual financial publishing companies, many of which are well-known.

For example, aside from The Oxford Club, The Agora owns Banyan Hill Publishing, Money Map Press, St. Paul Research, and Three Founders Publishing.

The most well-known newsletters The Oxford Club publishes are probably Alexander Green’s “The Oxford Communique” and Marc Lichtenfeld’s “The Oxford Income Letter.” And with the addition of Oxford Growth Investor, these are the company’s three primary entry-level services.

The Oxford Club also publishes numerous higher-tier services—for example, The Insider Alert, Oxford Microcap Trader, and The Momentum Alert.

What’s Included With an Oxford Growth Investor Subscription?

The main thing you get with a subscription to Oxford Growth Investor is the monthly newsletter.

As a subscriber of the service, you get a new newsletter issue via email each month for 12 months. And each newsletter details Matthew Carr and David Fessler’s latest stock picks, along with the details behind each recommendation they make.

You also get a breakdown of the sectors they believe are experiencing the most growth and the heads up about any new technologies they’re tracking.

Aside from the newsletter, you also get access to the following two model portfolios:

• Best-in-Class Portfolio
• Safe Speculation Portfolio

In addition, you get weekly updates on these portfolios via the “Oxford Growth Check-In” emails. These emails are designed to keep you updated on any important news impacting the portfolios and alert you to any changes you need to make to the positions they’ve recommended.

Lastly, subscribers receive some research reports depending on which page you join the service through. For example, you get a combination of “special situation reports” and other bonus reports if you join through the presentation I mentioned earlier.

Special situation reports are research reports that detail stocks either Matthew or David are tracking at any given time. And as a member, you get these reports as they are released. Right now, they are offering the following special situation reports:

• The Next Stock of the Decade
• Five Small Cap Stocks Making BIG Moves in Blockchain
• The $3 Stock Vital to the 5G Revolution

And if you join through the presentation, you get these two bonus reports:

• The Ultimate Growth Stock Under $10
• Two Tiny Tech Innovators Set to Take Off

Keep in mind that these reports are changing all the time. So by the time you read this, they may be offering different reports.

How Much Does It Cost to Join?

The cost of joining Oxford Growth Investor is $49 per year.

Matthew Carr did mention something about how it could eventually be sold for $249 per year down the road, but as of writing, it’s $49 for a 12-month subscription.

The service also comes with a 365-day refund policy. So if you subscribe to the service and aren’t happy with it, you’ve got a year to get your money back.

Is Oxford Growth Investor a Scam?

Oxford Growth Investor isn’t a scam, it’s a legitimate newsletter service edited by genuine investment experts, and The Oxford Club is a respected financial publishing company.

I did find some complaints about The Oxford Club during my research. But this doesn’t surprise me because almost all financial publishers have some negative reviews, even the good ones.

And while there are lots of scams in the stock advisory space, often the problem isn’t so much the newsletter itself; it’s the marketing behind some of these services.

Sometimes the promotion side of things can lead people to join advisory services like Oxford Growth Investor with the wrong expectations. And if the stock recommendations don’t work out as well as planned, this can lead to disappointment.

So, my point is, it’s not always about the service itself being a “scam,” it’s also about the expectations you have upon joining. This can make a big difference as to how worthwhile you find the service. And how likely you are to consider it beneficial or not.

Based on what I’ve seen, The Oxford Club doesn’t seem to be overhyping the service too much. I mean, I wouldn’t expect to make 10X gains in a few years. That might be possible, but it’s not what you should expect to see on average. So take that with a pinch of salt.

But either way, I don’t see any reason to consider the service a scam. And at the end of the day, it does come with a 365-day money-back guarantee.

So in my mind, the most significant risk has to do with how well the recommendations perform. And given it’s a new service, it’s too early to tell how those will play out.

Bottom Line: Worth Joining?

The motto of Oxford Growth Investor is to “think like a disruptor,” which is fitting because this advisory is all about investing in innovative tech companies. And the service aims to help subscribers see 1,000% gains without taking on unnecessary risk.

It’s a tall order. But Matthew Carr and David Fessler are experienced investors and, together, share their insight through the monthly newsletter and stock recommendations to help subscribers achieve this goal.

Should you join? Ultimately, whether or not you think it’s worth joining is something only you can decide. And in the end, I chose not to join the service, so I can’t recommend it to you based on my own personal experience.

That said, considering what you get, $49 isn’t a great deal of money. And given Matthew Carr and David Fessler’s track record, it wouldn’t surprise me if they recommend some great stocks in the years ahead.

So the Oxford Growth Investor could be worth joining, especially if you’re interested in investing in smaller stocks and taking advantage of the latest technology trends.

That said, it’s not for everyone.

For example, it’s probably not going to suit you if you’re looking for a more conservative newsletter, if you’re more interested in dividend stocks than growth stocks, or if you want a service that recommends stocks across a broader range of sectors.

And it’s important to understand that, even though the service aims to help you make significant gains, there are no guarantees it’ll help you 10X your money. In fact, as with any advisory, it’s possible you could even lose money since all investments carry risk.

This is especially true when it comes to using options. If you’re right, the upside could be huge, but if you’re wrong and don’t manage the risk properly, you could get burned.

That’s why I think it’s good that they give you the option to choose between the two portfolios, one that leverages the LEAPS option trading strategy and one that doesn’t.

Anyway, that’s it from me.

Thanks for reading, and feel free to share your thoughts or experience with the Oxford Growth Investor service in the comments below.