Many investors want to know if Louis Navellier is a scam or a legit iconic investor. The editor has been around for quite a while and has been writing newsletters for different types of readers.
Navellier describes himself as a “one-percenter.” He wants you to know that his wealth gives him credibility since he knows how to grow his money.
However, does his personal investing success also translate to the wealth of his subscribers? That is the multi-million dollar question.
We have already written about two of his teasers.
Stock Exposer discussed his QaaS Stocks and asked if they are indeed bigger than personal computers. Read the write-up to find out more details about this Quantum-as-a-Service technology.
As well, our website wrote about his so-called “Trump AI Boom” Data Center Stocks. The investor says he knows what the best way is to play the next phase of the AI boom. Does he deliver? Read our article to find out.
We have a lot to talk about, so let's start knowing more about Navellier.
Background
Louis Navellier has been an investor for nearly four decades. What a time frame to have been involved in the markets!
His profile says that this has resulted in a reputation for giving investment advice to aspiring and starting investors. The claim is that he is an expert picker in stocks, among the best in the world. As well, he has established a career in portfolio management.
Obviously, he has already cemented his name as a financial newsletter editor. Navellier says one of his goals is to share tools that are useful yet simple. What he wants is to aid investors in beating the numbers in the stock market.
For the past 17 years, he says his services overpowered the S&P 500 by 300%. He Navellier says he has been tracking this since starting his services in 1998.
Since he started his career without the aid of computers, the investor says this is an advantage.
Navellier claims to understand better older investors who may not be familiar with new technology. He is, thus, in a position to better guide them in more modern ways of investing.
Still, there are people who may find some of his methodologies complicated. However, his goal is clear. Navellier wants to expose the inconsistencies of Wall Street. He wants to help regular investors like you beat the stock market.
If you are a less risky type of person, the editor says you will need his assistance. He offers his services globally and has helped aspiring investors reach their goals through his newsletter.
The editor also claims to be “an icon among growth stock investors”.
Navellier says many in the media value his financial insights. Some outfits that seek his take include CNBC, Fox Business News, MarketWatch, Bloomberg, and The Wall Street Journal.
The pitch here is that if these well-known media trust him, why wouldn’t you?
In addition, the investor says he is supported by a team of about 50 professional analysts in his fund management company, Navellier & Associates. They are currently managing over $5 billion in mutual funds and institutional accounts.
Navellier says he is not just about making money. The editor also does pro bono work like seminars for aspiring investors across the country. Part of his mission is advancing financial literacy in the country.
If you are a bookworm and want to learn from him directly, you can also avail of his book, The Little Book That Makes You Rich. SFO Magazine recognized it as one of the Top 10 Investing Books of 2007.
Services
InvestorPlace
Navellier's publisher also offers the newsletters of Eric Fry and Luke Lango.
The website shows four different services of Louis Navellier. These are Growth Investor, Breakthrough Stocks, Accelerated Profits, and Platinum Growth Club.
To make it easier for potential subscribers, the website discusses each based on three characteristics.
The first one is the Stock Focus. It ranges from Small to Mid to Large or to all types of focus. For example, if you are to invest Stocks from Mid- to Large-Cap, it is suggested to avail of the Growth Investor service.
The second one is the Investor Profile. Different services cater to different types of investors:
- Conservative (for Growth Investor)
- Moderate to Aggressive (for Breakthrough Stocks)
- Aggressive (for Accelerated Profits)
- Conservative to Aggressive (for Platinum Growth Club)
Third is your preference for the Frequency of Trading. It is monthly trading for the Growth Investor and Breakthrough Stocks. Meanwhile, Accelerated Profits offers weekly trading. For those more adventurous and want to go for weekly and monthly trading, Platinum Growth Club is for them.
The price ranges from $499 a year to $8,293 a year. The cheapest is the Growth Investor, while the most pricey is the Platinum Growth Club. For the Breakthrough Stocks and Accelerated Profits, the price is $4,000 a year.
Well, everything comes with a price.
Basically, Platinum Growth Club encompasses all stock focus, all types of traders/investors, and all frequency of trading. So, the price of covering all three other services is less than the sum of availing them.
It looks like you are receiving a discount of approximately $200.
If you are a first-timer and just want to try out the service, availing Growth Investor makes sense. And if in the future, you see growth and great potential returns, you can avail of the Platinum Growth Club.
The website offers a booking experience to customers. You can easily purchase or avail of the services by filling out their form.
His website has a catchy center page asking the customers “What Type of Investor Are You”. You may choose from Growth Investor, Income Investor, or Defensive Investor.
It's a conversational type of feature where you would reflect on yourself.
What's nice and extra about the website is that it has a video introducing Navellier & Associates. It is interesting to see a moving picture on the website.
Also, it has a clean summary of the things an investor would want to know about the company that has the potential to help.
As well, the website shows the basic steps for getting a portfolio review.
A critical note for investors is that this is a US-based portfolio with a minimum value of $250,000. Another requirement is for the investor to have a portfolio of holdings that the company can review and analyze.
Clients who do not meet the requirements will not be able to push through with the services offered on his website. This feature allows both the Navellier & Associates team and the client to save time and effort.
What's the use of presenting the services, doing an analysis and review, and negotiating, if the latter’s services do not match the former’s needs?
The editor's website also features some useful articles and commentaries for investors. This is a basic site that is very easy to navigate. Such a feature is useful for older investors who have the money but have very little knowledge of technology.
Unfortunately, there is no available quotation or price range on this website. This can lead to prospective clients not inquiring further. Most people nowadays want to know an idea of how much they will be paying for a service.
However, it could also be that Navellier is targeting a different market here. Premium clients usually care more about the reputation, credibility, and track record than the price of an expert's services.
If you have experience with Navellier & Associates, please share your insights below. We are certain our readers would want to hear from you.
Reviews
What do subscribers think about his services? Do they think Navellier is a scam or a true “icon among growth stock investors?”
The overall rating of Navellier’s Emerging Growth from Stock Gumshoe is 3.2/stars with 71 votes as of this writing.
This service is rated based on four things: 1) Investment Performance, 2) Quality of Writing/Analysis, 3) Value for Price, and 4) Customer Service.
Among the categories, Emerging Growth is excelling in Investment Performance with an average of 3.44 while it is lowest in Value for Price with an average of 2.83.
These comments came from February 2009 to February 2020.
User Joe posted in February 2009 and said that this service is a bit pricey and requires a large amount of money.
Anyway, I do okay with this one, not great, but I only invest money in the top 10 stocks. This is another newsletter that has you invest in 50+ stocks. It takes a substantial amount of money to spread it around that much.
Meanwhile, Lee99 also posted in February 2009 agreeing with others' comments that most messages from Emerging Growth are to always “Buy, Buy, Buy.” He added that they only recommend selling when stocks are dropping off the chart.
As for Steve, the editor's recommendations in his newsletter are useful. He even commended his work and mentioned that the investor is a great analyst. However, he agrees that Navellier hangs on to stocks for too long.
Honestly, I’ve made a lot of money investing in Louis’s picks.
But I had it with him last Fall when he kept telling everyone to hold onto Graham and Dryships, and of course, both missed on earnings (and Drys had other problems), and the shorts killed both of them.
User elg09, however, does not have good words to say about Navellier:
This guy is a big-scale charlatan. He has no shame in announcing that a stock will double, let’s say by Friday, as was the case for GTE last year. Well, he spelled dis-as-ter for this gullible subscriber. I won’t follow him anywhere again. I don’t even want to hear his name.
An interesting comment on the review page is on the investor's weaknesses. Commenter nuts2bolts says the first red flag is that “he will trumpet his correct picks incessantly, but completely sidestep his wrong ones.”
Another weakness according to the subscriber is that the editor seems to like big risks.
Navellier “recommends stocks with Market Caps in the $100-350 Million range.” The commenter says these are “very dangerous stocks to buy, because they are so thinly traded, and such small companies.”
As for the third weakness, let us know if you agree with nuts2bolts:
A 3rd – and critical – weakness is that he frequently does not own the stocks he recommends.
Meanwhile, Navellier’s Ultimate Growth’s overall rating on Stock Gumshoe is 3.6 with almost 70 votes.
This time, it is equally high in Quality of Writing/Analysis and Customer Service with an average of 3.81 and lowest in Investment Performance with an average of 3.25.
Comments ranged from January 2009 to September 2019.
This service also has a mixed type of commenters – some believed in him and some did not.
A considerable number of the comments, though, mentioned about Blue Chip Growth. The commenters found that the newsletter is more useful than the Ultimate Growth service offered.
AST followed Navellier’s recommendations in Ultimate Growth and found it satisfactory.
User donovanm1, however, cannot say the same thing.
Highly volatile stocks. A lot of stock recommendations. Some performed incredibly well.
Many were up briefly then suddenly down significantly. Those losses were painful. At the end of the day, I did not make money with this service. Too many bad picks mixed in with a few good picks.
In our view, commenter James Wood gives a measured assessment of Navellier and his investing style. We think you should take his point of view into consideration when deciding.
The readers of Better Business Bureau gave InvestorPlace 1.23 out of 5 stars by the time we publish this article.
Commenter Cindy T in October 2022, outrightly says that the company is awful. One of the main reasons was the annoying spam emails constantly being sent to her.
However, she was particularly irked by an unexpected development:
I had paid for a lifetime subscription to one of the newsletters and then InvestorPlace stopped doing business with the newsletter author and refuse to provide me a refund!
They claim I'm getting a value from the spam emails (i.e., Louis N) and have started spamming me again with probably 20 emails a day.
For the subscriber, people should “avoid this awful, scamming company!”
Here are some more choice words from other subscribers:
This company disgusts me. Upon canceling my subscription, which was absolutely worthless, I was immediately inundated with unsolicited promotional emails from a multitude of investment letters. – Pat M
I am only rating InvestorPlace a one because there's not a NEGATIVE star rating!!!! I would highly suggest to NEVER place your money or trust with this “business!” – Kimberly P
Spent about $3,500 in subscriptions and had no winners! They probably get paid on the other end to pump up horrible picks. Their marketing only shows “after the fact” deals. – Brian S
To be fair, there are some who viewed Navellier's publisher quite positively.
However, the majority of the reviews did not view the publisher in a positive light.
By the time we publish this review, there are about five pages of complaints on the website for InvestorPlace. Sure, not all of these have anything to do with Navellier.
However, it does say something about the editor if he chooses to associate himself with the company.
This is especially offensive because a majority of the complaints are about pesky spam emails. The company does not seem to honor those who wish to unsubscribe.
Even bigger than this are the numerous complaints about fraudulent credit card charges. Since the comments on BBB only reflect a fraction of real life, we wonder how many subscriber issues were left unresolved.
We know that many subscribers are older investors and a lot in the demographic are not tech-savvy. Maybe there are those who just let it go, as they do not know how to reach the company.
But what if there are those who are not even aware that some credit card charges are questionable? This is a possibility, for sure.
Obviously, all of the comments from various websites are subjective. At the end of the day, different people will have different experiences.
However, you need to be aware of all these as they provide you with more information about the investor. Since subscribing to these services involves money, time, and energy, you need to be smart about your decisions.
Pros V Cons
Pros
- You can choose from a variety of services. Navellier also has his own company that focuses on big-ticket portfolios.
- The editor has personal success, and this could indicate his knowledge of the financial markets.
Cons
- Reviews point to his preference for aggressive investing.
- Many commenters do not appreciate his publisher's sketchy business practices.
So, for those who are interested in subscribing to his services, do you think Louis Navellier is a scam editor? Or is the investor a legit expert who wants to help you be wealthy like him?
His personal wealth could indicate that following his recommendations will benefit you. But not everyone is meant to be a teacher.
Based on his background, he has been an investor for close to forty years. Navellier says this alone means he knows what he is talking about.
In fact, according to him, he has actually done way better than the S&P 500. The editor claims to have helped many big and small investors all over the world.
Currently, he has four services with InvestorPlace. These are Growth Investor, Breakthrough Stocks, Accelerated Profits, and Platinum Growth Club.
He also has his own website, Navellier & Associates. This is for big players with a healthy portfolio.
The investor's Emerging Growth and Ultimate Growth newsletters seem to be rated well on Stock Gumshoe as of this writing. However, the comments are mostly negative.
Meanwhile, Navellier's publisher only got 1.23 stars out of 5 on BBB by the time we publish our article.
After having gone through all those details, what's your verdict? Is Louis Navellier a scam? Or is he someone you're inclined to trust? Let us know below.