Day One Of The Porter & Co. Annual Conference
Inside Today’s Issue
When inflation breaks out, own commodities…
That’s one of the key points Porter told the audience this morning on his farm outside Baltimore, where a few hundred Partner Pass members gathered for the Porter & Co. Annual Conference.
He led off with a talk about the latest allocation of Porter’s Permanent Portfolio (PPP). Porter’s goal in creating PPP in 2024 was to improve the portfolio’s average returns without increasing its volatility, while also creating a superior Sharpe Ratio – a measure of how much return is achieved per unit of risk. In building this tool that’s available to all Complete Investor subscribers, he’s trying to create a portfolio that can produce returns in the most efficient way possible, with the least amount of volatility.
And it’s worked. The first iteration of the Permanent Portfolio was launched at the Annual Conference in September 2024… the original allocation is up 34%, which is impressive. Even more impressive, though, is the low beta of just 0.15.
As he did at the 2025 conference, Porter took the stage at 9 AM to walk attendees through the changes he is making for 2026. He presented the 20 Lindy stocks that are at the core of the portfolio – “notice the low-beta stocks,” he said, pointing to the big screen behind the stage – plus the 10 property-and-casualty insurance companies that hold the “bonds” allocation – in place of actual long-duration bonds.
And he explained the best way to give exposure to gold and to Bitcoin. “You might not be a fan of Bitcoin, and that’s ok. Just hold more gold. But, personally, I think Bitcoin is a superior form of money. That’s why I own Bitcoin.”
But the biggest surprise for attendees was the portion of the allocation turned over to commodities, because as he says: “When inflation breaks out, own commodities. Their prices skyrocket.” And while the consumer price index, the government measure of inflation, sits around 4%, Porter sees inflation closer to 9%. He reminded attendees that inflation has not been at the Federal Reserve’s 2% target level for 66 months – that’s early 2021 to save you the math.
He concluded with a list of commodity ETFs – commonly referred to as CTAs (commodity trading advisor) – which provide exposure to commodities. Remember 1980 when the Dow Jones Industrial Average trading multiple was around 6x, one commodity ETF returned 64%. Here’s the chart Porter splashed up on the stage screen:
Taking the stage later in the morning was MyWallSt head Emmet Savage, who flew in from Dublin to give attendees his investing rationale. “I’m all about stocks,” he says. The key to his presentation is to share with conference goers four stocks that he believes will be 100 baggers. Dell Computers was his inspiration – having grown 1,000x since going public. The stocks cover everything from tech to insurance to health care. The trick to successful 100-bagger investing? “Patience,” says Emmet. “Microsoft did nothing for 16 years before becoming the greatest wealth-creation event.”
Porter & Co. analyst Ross Hendricks took the stage shortly after lunch to present his latest finding – which is not in either The Trading Club or Complete Investor, where he does the most work. While he did not formally recommend this company, he’s keeping it on his watchlist. Up on the big stage, Ross detailed an up-and-coming options exchange that’s captured 17% share of the total U.S. equity options market. Very profitable, its established core business trades at 14x free cash flow with significant growth opportunities ahead. Future upside, he explained, comes from high-margin data services, proprietary index products, and niche futures market opportunities. One promising growth driver will come from launching the first fertilizer futures contracts, a desperately needed financial instrument to hedge against future supply disruptions in the wake of the Iran War.
Stansberry Research biotech analyst Dave Lashmet concluded day one of the conference taking attendees through five companies. One of them is a global biopharmaceutical company that is focused on developing and commercializing radiopharmaceuticals – these are medicines that attach radioactive isotopes to targeted molecules to image and treat cancer.
He called his presentation “The Alphabet Of Atomic Medicines For Investors.” The recommendations, for the most part, focus on imagining and finding and developing therapeutic agents for curing cancer. Imagining has developed in extraordinary ways over the past decade or so – allowing researchers a practical view of the brain or other parts of the body.
He talked specifically about brain tumors, kidney cancer, and prostate cancer… and the drugs being developed to fight them. The key to this company’s technology is this: “What was hidden before is now clear.”
The market caps of his five stocks range from $4 billion to more than $500 billion.
While many of the day’s presenters do extraordinary and magical analysis, the final presenter carries some real wizardry up his sleeve – magician Bill Herz.
Tell us what you think of today’s Daily Journal: porterstansberrydirect@gmail.com
Porter & Co.
Stevenson, Maryland
1. Gold and silver miners have gone from issuing stock to buying it back at a record pace. For decades, miners paid for cost overruns and bad acquisitions by selling new shares, which shrank shareholders’ stake. Today, the money flows the other way. Net buybacks at the 10 largest U.S.- and Canadian-listed gold and silver miners are near $7 billion, the highest in Bloomberg data going back to 1997. The cash comes from margins. Newmont (NEM) – the largest publicly traded gold miner – sold gold for an average of $4,414 an ounce last quarter, while producing it and maintaining its mines cost just $1,621. Yet Newmont trades at about 15x its past year’s earnings, compared with about 25x for the S&P 500.
2. A diesel export ban could raise U.S. fuel prices. President Trump said that he backs a ban, with diesel at a record $6.53 a gallon. However, it may not have the effect he hopes. At first, unsold diesel would pile up on the Gulf Coast, home to more than half of U.S. refining capacity, and prices there would fall. But the East and West Coasts rely partly on imported fuel, and the pipelines and tankers connecting them to the Gulf are already stretched. Those regions would pay global prices, which would rise without U.S. supply. As storage fills, Gulf refiners would then process less crude. Each barrel yields gasoline, diesel, and jet fuel together, so cutting diesel output cuts the others, too.
3. Dividend cuts signal corporate weakness. A recent analysis of thousands of public companies tracked by TMX Wall Street Horizon shows that 19% of dividend announcements during the Q3 reporting season were for dividend reductions. This marks the highest proportion of dividend cuts since Q2 2020, when the economy was struggling under pandemic-related lockdowns. Yet another signal of economic weakness under the surface of a market trading near all-time highs.
Porter did the annual reallocation of Porter’s Permanent Portfolio at the Annual Conference this morning – leaving behind a portfolio allocation that returned 34%.
Yesterday Porter detailed the moves by GameStop CEO Ryan Cohen to increase his stake in eBay, concluding the Journal but recommending that GameStop buy eBay.
“Sold It On eBay”
Bruce H. writes:
Dealing on eBay can be tedious. If a buyer/seller on eBay wants convenience, the option, I Sold It on eBay works well. However, Mr. Cohen’s proposed solution sounds like it might work better, especially when buying/selling collectibles. The venture might be worth a flyer.