Welcome to 1997.
In
these last three years of the millennium, "experts" will tell
you the Dow will break 12,000... the world will erupt in "millennium
fever" hysteria ... and a population explosion will choke the planet.
We say "HOGWASH!"
The "experts"
have been dead wrong most of the time ...
Meanwhile, a
few people have correctly forecast nearly all the major events of the last
decade. Their strategy was easy - even obvious. It brought in more than
175% profits in the last five years alone. In each of the last four years,
this same strategy creamed all the major indexes - including the Dow. And
made as much as 300% returns ...
How does it work?
It begins with a special report much like the one you hold in your hands
right now ...
Let's start with
one of the most cataclysmic events you should brace yourself for in 1997:
The Russian stock market explosion ...
Over the next
three years, a boom in Russian stocks will take almost every broker and
investor in America by surprise.
We're calling
it the "Russian Inversion" - because investment opportunity in
Russia is the diametric opposite of current opportunity in the U.S. Let
me explain ...
In the U.S.,
the best stocks right now are not blue-chip companies. The best buys are
still small and unknown (as you'll see later in this report).
But in Russia,
the best stocks are blue chips. Big-name companies that every Russian knows
and trusts - that are still selling at bargain prices. For instance ...
One of the best
examples is our November 1996 pick, Chernogorneft - a Russian oil company
that's selling for just 22% of its fair market price. Even more compelling
is what we learned sipping vodka and breaking bread with company managers
in Siberia ...
The Taipan Research
Department invites you to join us on our profit hunting expedition into
the last years of this century - and well into the first decade of the coming
millennium.
But let's take
on this adventure one step at a time. Let's return to a look at the Russian
market ...
More than three times the rise of the Dow
Since January
'96, the Russian market has gone up 120%. That's more than three times the
record rise of the Dow in 1995. Millions were made (and in dollars, not
just rubles).
But not a broker
in America knows about it.
And I'll bet
my eye teeth you haven't seen it on the covers of Time or Business Week
- or heard so much as a sound-bite about it on any of those "roundtable"
investment programs. Why?
Because the mainstream
press has virtually ignored this story. Call it leftover Cold War bias.
Call it blind ignorance. Or call it a "pack journalism" decision
that headlines about Chechnya and Yeltsin's ticker would sell more papers
and more commercial air time. Whatever the reason, here's the result ...
The false picture
created by these kinds of "scare" headlines has kept a lot of
foreign investors out of Russia.
If you're one
of those investors held back by the press, you should be hopping mad. Because
most bad news about Russia is a media fantasy. And most of the incredible
Russian opportunities you could be investing in right now are going completely
unreported.
I've not only
confirmed this with one of our key Moscow contacts - a former CIA operative
who has spent the last 35 years stationed in Russia - but I've been there
myself and I've seen what's available ...
A thousand good reasons to trade in your shares of Netscape
While U.S. companies
like Netscape traded for close to 375 times earnings, the Russian equivalents
of blue-chip stocks trade for just 2 to 3 times earnings ...
Allow me to put
that into perspective: Netscape's peak market cap alone was US$5.7 billion
... America On-Line hit US$2.7 billion ... Presstek's total stock hit US$3
billion ... and Iomega peaked at US$6.3 billion. Combined, these 4 companies
are worth - according to Wall Street - almost $US18 billion! Meanwhile,
the combined stock value of every single company in Russia is just $25 billion.
Think about that.
Mainstream investors
and the mainstream press are asking you to believe that 4 companies - all
not more than a few years old - and all selling nothing but some code and
some computer hardware ... are worth more than the combined value of more
than half of several thousand companies doing business on one of the largest
and most resource-rich continents on the planet. Hmm. I'm not buying it
...
Especially since
I know first-hand the Russian stock market is spilling over with premier
companies. Companies with real tangible assets, absolutely zero debt, rock
solid profits, and a zeal for Western capital. I think you can see what
I'm getting at ...
The greatest "secret" bull market in history
Post-Soviet Russians
have a lot more money ready to invest in Russian stocks than they're letting
on. Why?
First, because
the days of the dreary socialist worker sleeping on the job are over. Russia
is a country where even criminals are fed up with the old days of the state.
The Soviet Mafia steals broken-down tractors, harvesters, and threshers
from defunct state collectives and fixes them for resale to privately run
production plants.
This is also
a country where the government's powers are so deflated and weak, they couldn't
crush the entrepreneurial spirit of the people even if they wanted to (which
they don't). The once-mighty Red Army got their rumps kicked in Chechnya
... and spent a fortune for the privilege. These days, they have no choice
but decentralization and privatization.
In 1990, virtually
every business in Russia was owned by the government. Today, three-quarters
of all mid-sized and large-sized businesses are privately owned. And young
entrepreneurs have launched over 900,000 small companies. Capitalism has
arrived. And your average "comrade" is working hard to pile up
his share of the prize ...
Owning the future
Since 1988, Taipan
has made piles of profits by holding true to a single core belief about
investing: That the truest and best investments are found where no one else
can see value.
That sounds obvious
enough. Even fundamental. But believe it or not, the average investor can
plod through a lifetime of investing and never wake up to this discovery!
If you really
want to make money, you have to dig deep. That's the entire secret of the
Taipan approach.
We do all our
research with the help of a worldwide neural network of contacts. We meet
and correspond with many of these people every day. A few work right here
in our headquarters. But many more are stationed in London, Paris, the Philippines,
Israel, Latin America, and just about anywhere you might imagine a profit
opportunity could arise. In all, our contacts cover more than 104 countries.
Imagine the kinds of investments you could find with that kind of reach
...
With experts
like these in your corner, it's a lot easier to savor the kind of raw discoveries
that leaves a lot of investors in awe and perplexed all at once.
Wild moments
of upheaval are precisely the times when most "experts" go slack-jawed
and silent ... Yet, they're also the times when a few smart investors can
find golden opportunities for profit. But take note ...
This kind of
market approach we're talking about only works for investors who don't believe
in sitting back on their haunches ...
Back to the future
When I joined
Taipan back in 1989 ... my hometown, Berlin, was still surrounded by a concrete
wall and barbed wire. The Soviet Union was still intact. And most investors
weren't giving the Eastern Bloc a second thought. Yet ...
The night the
Wall came down, it was nearly impossible to get through to Berlin on the
phone. That is, if you tried dialing after the news had hit the wires. I
actually spent the night tying up two phones simultaneously: One line to
my brother, who kept me up to date on the German media coverage. On the
other one I had a friend whose apartment overlooked the Wall in a dingy
part of town - who had originally alerted me that SOMETHING was going on.
Later that month,
Bob Czeschin and I showed Taipan readers that all you had to do to profit
when the Wall came down was buy the German Fund. The final take was US$17,000
for every US$10,000 invested. Then, thanks to more advance insights from
inside Germany, we were able to get out before the Great Unification Blues
set in ... with our 70% profits intact.
I'm confident
you could've done the same. And now, I think you'll quickly see why we've
got our eyes on some new Eastern Bloc investments. This time in Poland,
Hungary, and the Czech Republic ...
The strength
of a networked market approach like Taipan's is that it finds investments
most other investors completely overlook. That's how you get in when you
should be getting in - long before the mainstream coverage. And long before
institutional investors move in and rocket stock values through the roof
...
My point is:
We live in exciting times. Changes are coming faster than ever before. And
knowing when and where those changes will occur is the smart and simple
way - perhaps the only way - to make impressive profits.
You and Taipan share a common goal
You know it as
well as I do. Serious investors have no use for broad generalities and guesswork.
What's more,
real investors don't need glossy information and secret agendas. We have
no use for fancy frills, vanity theories, or self-serving rhetoric, either.
At Taipan our single, solitary objective is laid bare - to make money. Profits,
plain and simple.
Because to succeed
at investing, you'll need to be smart and nimble-footed. Sometimes, it means
you'll have to be controversial. Together, we'll have to challenge the mainstream
view. And that's fine with us. We're here to make money. And, if you're
at all like us, I'm confident you wouldn't have it any other way.
Our annual January
Forecast Issue is key to what we regard as the core of our "franchise."
Each year, we call upon our most acute sources to present you a preview
of the year ahead. I hate to brag. But we have consistently done so with
astounding accuracy. In fact, many of the monumental events it predicted
later (months to years later) become front-page news ...
In the '96 Forecast
issue, for instance, we not only predicted the re-election of Bill Clinton
... but we forecast the surprise election outcomes in Russia and Israel.
While the rest of Wall Street perched on the edge of their seats, our '96
Forecast told investors precisely what Alan Greenspan would do with interest
rates ...
We even called
the summer crash of Netscape ... and told readers to short Valujet - a profit
opportunity that gave investors as much as 83%!
Every year, you
can count on Taipan's January Forecast Issue to give you precise predictions
for where the dollar is headed ... what to expect from interest rates ...
the 12-month outlook for your real estate ... and for the stock market.
We'll call the
political events... predict the military flare-ups ... and show you exactly
how these could affect your money.
US$500,000 worth of investment insights and my solemn pledge to you
We dedicate well
over US$500,000 every year to research for Taipan... just to cover the site-visit
expenses ... research service charges ... "bakhshish" ... and
sophisticated computer systems (on James Passin's desk alone, he has three
computers running at all times - including one with a direct satellite hookup
to the NYSE)...
That's why I
take the following pledge to you very seriously:
Our mission for
1997 is to make you money through brash, relentless opportunism - no matter
where we have to go and what cost we have to incur to pinpoint opportunity.
And I pledge to you to make this information available to you through the
fastest, most efficient channels - your monthly issues, our Free
Hotline, and our online presence. This site will continue to provide
you, the Taipan subscriber, timely information faster than the mail can
get it to you - at no extra cost!
Here are some
of the opportunities we're preparing for you right now:
- A self-cleaning world! Taipan discovered a company in the Research Triangle, North Carolina, which has developed a technology that literally cleans everything. This company has found a way to incorporate a chemical additive that kills both bacteria and fungi in clothing, furniture and flooring. We talked to the president, and he told us that the market for this product is limitless. We agree. And you'll learn about it in the February Taipan.
- Keeping the bad guys out ... and fraud away from corporate America. Biometric technology is the biggest industry to hit the security business since The Club. (Rough estimates put the market for biometrics at US$30 billion ... in the next year!) Companies in the biometric field have developed security systems which analyze features that are unique to a person ... like a fingerprint, facial heat, or voice recognition. Taipan's research department has identified 6 companies in the industry which are about to take off like Roman candles. We'll tell you about a few of these companies in March.
- While touring the California tech belt, Taipan found a company in San Diego which has a new method for preserving food - with electricity. Sound far-fetched? It's not. The U.S. Army has been using it ... and now this company wants to offer it to the public. The preservation process exposes bulk food to very short bursts of high-intensity electrical fields. In microseconds, more than 20,000 volts/cm flow through the electrodes and through the food. This preservation method controls microbiological growth, which in turn extends the food's shelf-life.
- Electrical food doesn't appeal to you? Well, the Taipan research department checked out a company in Cincinnati, OH, which sells whole dinners that can be cooked right inside the box they come in. What's so fascinating about that? You don't need a fire, microwave, or electricity to cook it! Using nothing but salt, water, iron, and magnesium, you can cook this meal in your car. Fourteen minutes later you have a complete meal. We tried the turkey dinner, and it tasted pretty good. But more importantly, over 70 million of these meals have been sold. We predict this company's convenient meals will be the next boom business.
- Driving under the influence causes nearly 17,000 deaths and over 1 million injuries a year. In fact, nearly one-quarter of all 16-20 year old drivers killed in auto accidents were legally intoxicated. For insurance companies, alcohol-related accidents constitute over US$36 billion in litigation. Taipan editors found a public company which has developed a device which - once installed in the car - requires that the driver give a breath sample before the car can be started. If the sensor detects an unacceptable alcohol level, the car will not start. Once this company's device penetrates the market and it becomes an option on cars, earnings will fly through the roof for this company's stock.
- How about the GPS (global positioning systems) industry? It's a US$50 billion-a-year business, and we know which company is going to be the leader in supplying companies with the vital satellites necessary for GPS hook-up. Taipan loves this company. Sales for their product have more than tripled since 1993... and the stock is so undervalued, you couldn't buy it for less at a flea market.
- Or how about this public company, which has a strong foothold in the autonomous vehicle navigation industry. Using GPS technology and a interactive voice navigation stereo system, a driver can actually talk to his car to find his location or destination.
- Most people don't realize it, but microcoating is everywhere - from microwave ovens and televisions to cell phones and computers. Taipan knows the company which sits atop this billion-dollar industry. In fact, they are the only ones doing it ... plus they've found a way to reduce the ozone pollutants which are released through microcoating. This Atlanta, Georgia, company - which we recently visited - has a customer list which includes the likes of 3M, Pilkington, GM, Lockheed, Alcoa, Morton and Behr Automotive.
- The biotech boom continues ... Up in the cold hills of northern Wisconsin, a biotech firm has created a genetically-altered strain of cotton, which is warmer and lighter than traditional cotton. But not only is it warmer, researchers can grow different colors ... plus make it wrinkle free.
If
you look at the world through Taipan's eyes, you find it awash with opportunity.
Let us prove it to you ... again and again ... in 1997!
In this spirit,
I wish you Good Hunting in 1997!
Yours cordially,
J. Christoph Amberger
Publisher, TAIPAN