Microcap Confidential Review (2023 Update)

Microcap Confidential is an investing service run by Joel Litman.. you can find it over at Altimetry.

Joel claims he can help you find investments with 1000% return potential.

Is he telling the truth or is this all one big scam?

We'll get to the bottom of this question in this review.

Additionally, we'll investigate how well Litman picks stocks, any red flags I find and more.

You'll know if Microcap Confidential is worth it by the time you're done reading.

Let's get started!

What To Expect When Buying Microcap Confidential

Microcap Confidential is two things.. it's an investing service and it's a small part in a much larger sales funnel.

Before buying you this newsletter you need to to understand what you're getting yourself into.

This is what you should expect if you buy Microcap Confidential:

Expect Many Upsells

Microcap Confidential is published buy Altimetry which is owned by MarketWise.

MarketWise is a publicly traded company that owns over a dozen other investing publishers.

This company is new but it's already making a lot of money and in 2022 they made well over $500 million in revenue.

MarketWise makes this much by constantly upselling their customers.

There's a good chance you read about Microcap Confidential in an email because you previously bought a MarketWise newsletter.

Expect to get expensive upsells in your inbox all the time.

Email Shared With Scammers

Another downside to buying from MarketWise is they employ legitimate fraudsters and they'll have access to your email.

MarketWise cross promotes from publisher to publisher.

So if you by Microcap Confidential expect to get emails from someone like Louis Navellier.

Louis runs InvestorPlace which is under the MarketWise umbrella.

The problem with Louis is he's marketed as a trusted stock picker even though he was fined $30 million a couple years ago for defrauding his customers:

Not really someone I want to receive emails from.

Another nefarious character is Teeka Tiwari at Palm Beach Research Group.

Teeka is so bad he was booted from Wall Street permanently.

Again, you'll be told he is this trustworthy guy that you need to give thousands to.

Manipulative Sales Tactics

Lastly, expect to get very manipulative sales presentations sent to your inbox everyday.

Usually these take form in stock teasers.

You'll get an overhyped presentation on a certain stock or stock trend but you have to pay to learn the stock ticker.

The returns promised in these presentations are so ridiculous but naïve investors fall for them all the time.

So expect to get many emails like this if you were to buy Microcap Confidential.

Here's Why I Don't Trust Joel's Stock Picks

So there's a certain stock that many MarketWise stock pickers seem to keep recommending.

It's called Ginkgo Bioworks.

Ginkgo Bioworks is a biotech company that makes synthetic cells for medicine and food.

Joel Litman recommended the stock as his favorite "SynBio" stock.

Other MarketWise stock pickers have called Ginkgo Bioworks the best hedge against inflation and the next Microsoft.

The problem is a famous hedge fund, Scorpion Capital, came out with a massive 175 report calling Ginkgo Bioworks a complete scam.

Here's the headline of the report:

And Scorpion Capital summarizes Ginkgo in the following terms:

What I find most interesting about this report is Scorpion Capital claims Ginkgo has teamed up with "some hedge funds to pimp the latest synthetic biology scam."

I've never seen a small stock like this recommended by so many MarketWise publishers before, all at the same exact time.

Scorpion Capital has a perfect track record shorting stocks and shorted Ginkgo for massive gains.

Here's how the stock has done in the last year:

I can't help but think MarketWise and their publishers are in on this scam.

Perhaps Ginkgo is paying them to recommend the company.

I wouldn't put it past MarketWise considering they employ people like Louis Navellier.

And Joel is in on this and if it is actually coordinated that would make him completely untrustworthy as well.

Recommended: The Best Place To Get Stock Picks

Joel's Stock Picking Performance

Joel does a lot of stock presentations for his newsletters.

So he has a ton of stocks we can look at to determine what he likes to recommend and how well his picks do.

Here's some of his most recent stock picks:

Illumina, Thermo Fisher Scientific, Ginkgo Bioworks In April 2022

These three picks are Joel's top "Synbio" picks and called them "Steve Job's final prophecy."

He's hinting at a quote from Steve Jobs saying technology and medicine would combine in the future.

The first company he's pitching is Illumina which is the leader in DNA sequencing machines.

Here's how the stock has performed since April 2022:

The stock is down around 30% since being recommended.

Next up we have Thermo Fisher Scientific.

This company is a major supplier for biotech firms.

Here's how the stock has done:

The stock is about breakeven since being recommended.

The last stock is Gingko Bioworks.

We covered this stock in the last section and they make synthetic cells to treat disease and make food.

Here's how the stock has done:

5 Stocks In March 2021

Back in early 2021 Joel ran a pitch hinting at the "giants of online shopping" and "3 pillars of the internet."

These were all pretty big companies which include Global Payments, Amazon, Alphabet, Dropbox and Charter Communications.

Here's how each performed starting with Global Payments:

Tech stocks have been hit hard in 2022 and Global Payments wasn't spared.

It's down about 50% since March 2021.

Next up we have Amazon:

Amazon is down as well but it's still a stock worth owning.

It'll definitely recover in time.

Next up we have Alphabet which owns Google:

Alphabet is up a bit since being recommended.

Dropbox is next:

This one is down a little as well.

Lastly, we have Charter Communications:

Overall I'd say these picks have been a bust overall.

Stocks like Amazon will definitely recover but who's knows about the rest.

Winnebago Industries In October 2019

Joel runs a newsletter called High Alpha as well and this stock pick was for that newsletter.

He called Winnebago a "tiny stock you've probably never considered before" and it had "500% upside."

Here's how this RV manufacturer has performed:

This stock has done very well since being recommended and at one point almost tripled.

Even with the stock being down from its peak it's still up 100%.

So not quite 500% but maybe one day.

Mitek Systems In October 2021

The last stock we're going to look at is a pick Joel made for his newsletter Microcap Confidential.

This newsletter focuses on smaller stocks with more growth potential.

In late 2021 Joel called Mitek Systems "the only cybersecurity company you should be paying attention to right now."

Here's how the stock has done:

The stock is down over 40% since being recommended and is another loser from Joel.

Recommended: The Best Place To Get Stocks

What Is Microcap Confidential Offering?

Microcap Confidential is your typical investing offering.

Here's a breakdown of everything that you get:

Monthly Newsletter

This is the main thing that you're paying a yearly subscription for.

The newsletter gives you new stock recommendations every single month.

With each recommendation you'll receive a write up of why Joel likes the stock and other information like that.

Additionally, each newsletter will cover the portfolio and previous picks.

These updates will explain what is happening to certain stocks picks and what you should do with the stocks.

Additionally, expect market analysis in each newsletter.

Model Portfolio

The model portfolio is the other big thing that you're paying for.

This is a collection of stocks the Joel has recommended in the past that he is still recommending.

You can expect around two dozen stocks at any time to be in the portfolio.

The portfolio will show you the stock, when it was recommended and what price to buy up to.

Special Reports

Along with everything else you also get special reports.

The special reports are ever changing and used to sell the newsletter.

They act as a sweetener and are the stocks that we looked at earlier form Joel.

Currently, the special reports offer stocks and sectors that Joel likes and thinks will be profitable in the future.

Sector Analyzer

The last main thing offered at Microcap Confidential is the Sector Analyzer tool.

Joel believes 50% of picking the right stock comes down to picking the right sector.

With your subscription to Microcap Confidential you'll get two years access to the Sector Analyzer tool.

This helps you find which sectors are experiencing a bull run and which you should avoid.

You'll also get training on the tool so you can use it properly.

Microcap Confidential FAQ's

Still have some questions about this newsletter?

Here's answers to any remaining questions you might have:

1) How Much Does Microcap Confidential Cost?

This newsletter is one of the upsells at Altimetry and is pretty expensive.

Joel claims he typically sells Microcap Confidential for $5000 per year and he's currently running a promo for $2500 for two years access.

So $1250 each year.

I'm not sure what happens after the two years, though.

I guess the subscription goes back to $5000 per year or perhaps you get a chance to resubscribe for two years again.

2) Is There A Refund Policy?

There's actually a blatant lie on the sales page from Microcap Confidential.

Joe claims Altimetry doesn't offer cash refunds:

This is a lie because they do offer a cash refund on Joel's cheaper newsletter called Hidden Alpha:

Altimetry does what every other MarketWise publishers does - offers a good cash refund on the cheap services and only a credit refund on the expensive ones.

They use the cheap product to lure you into the sales funnel and hope you don't notice the change in refund policy terms.

It's a scummy move.

3) Is Joel Litman Legit?

I don't think Joel is as bad as some of the characters employed at MarketWise.

I searched through his employment history and couldn't find anything too concerning.

He's worked at various investment and non investment companies.

Joel has also spent time as a professor at different colleges.

Anyone who works for MarketWise has loose morals, though.

You can't engage in the marketing they do and be completely legitimate.

4) What Is The Investing Strategy?

Like the name suggests Microcap Confidential focuses on small cap stocks.

There seems to be a heavy focus on sectors as well.

So you won't just be focusing on a single sector like small cap tech stocks.

Instead you'll be looking for sectors that are hot and finding smaller companies in those sectors.

Joel claims the goal is to get 1000% returns.

These kind of stocks are always going to be riskier than large cap stocks.

You're usually betting on a small cap stocks ability to grow because many of these companies aren't even profitable.

The potential returns are much higher, though.

5) How Much Should I Have To Invest

I personally wouldn't make an entire portfolio of these kind of stocks.

Maybe pick your favorite and invest an amount your comfortable losing.

If you have only $10,000 in your bank account and losing it would be devastating I would bother with these stocks.

These are the kind of stocks that could go bad quickly.

Additionally, there's a rule of thumb when paying for stock advice.

Never pay more than 1% to 2% of your trading account on research.

If you pay more than that you'll be cutting into your gains too much.

So 2% of $1250 (the yearly cost of the subscription) would be around $62,000.

That's a good minimum.

6) Are There Similar Newsletters?

Yes, there's many similar newsletters out there.

Some include:

• The Distortion Report
• Stansberry Investment Advisory
• TradeStops
• Retirement Watch
• Intelligent Income Investor
• True Wealth
• The Opportunistic Trader
• Jeff Clark Trader
• Behind The Markets
• The Oxford Income Letter
• Power Gauge Report
• Chaikin Analytics
• The Ferris Report
• Extreme Value

Most of these newsletters are under the MarketWise umbrella.

Recommended: The Best Place To Get Stocks

Microcap Confidential Conclusion

So that's the end of my review of Microcap Confidential.

There's a million newsletters just like this one.

I've personally reviewed probably 50 or so MarketWise newsletters at this point and almost none of them beat the market.

There's no reason to expect this one will.

Overall the stocks are going to be risky and especially so in the current market.

Plus the price is just too much in my opinion.

You need to be investing around $60,000 for the price of this newsletter to make sense.

To top it all of there's no cash refunds..

I can't recommend a newsletter like this.

Here's A Better Opportunity

I'd pass on Microcap Confidential. It's too pricey and the company that owns it is a headache to deal with.

The good news is there's plenty of good alternatives.

I've personally reviewed 100+ stock picking services..

To see my favorite (which is very affordable), click below: