Investing Advice From Your Kid's Gaming System

The wall didn't have to be Ross Chastain's enemy...

Last November, Chastain was sitting in 10th place at the final race before the NASCAR Cup championship. He needed to jump six competitors to leap up the standings and snag a qualifying spot.

In the final seconds of a race, it's awfully hard to weave through so many cars. The odds were against him. So what Chastain did next made national headlines – and caught the attention of NASCAR enthusiasts everywhere...

Even in well-pitched turns of a racing course, the centrifugal force from high speeds would send a car far off the track or slam it into a wall. Chastain knew this, and he used it to his advantage.

He accelerated against the wall that circled the track... and "basically let go of the wheel," as he recalled later. Smoke and sparks flew as the car scraped against the barrier, guiding him past the competition at record speed. He went from 10th place to fourth place in a matter of seconds.

Nobody had ever tried a move like it... in real life. Chastain, who went on to place third in the championship, said he got the idea from playing NASCAR 2005 on his Nintendo GameCube as a kid.

(The real-world NASCAR has since condemned the stunt as dangerous and promised a time penalty for any similar maneuvers.)

I wish I could claim that I knew about this because I'm an avid NASCAR fan. The reality is, I heard about it in a presentation from Canadian entrepreneur Salim Ismail.

Regular readers know that last week, I wrote about Ismail's theory of exponential organizations (or "ExOs"). In short, these businesses pursue specific tools and strategies that will help them achieve exponential growth.

As I'll explain today, these ideas aren't restricted to the company level. Plenty of exponential technologies are cropping up across the investing landscape. And leveraging these innovations can lead to exponential growth for your portfolio as well.

Chastain's video-game maneuver was unheard of in the racing world...

However, virtual driving practice is increasingly commonplace.

Of course, most professional drivers don't dust off their old Nintendo consoles for a warmup. (At least, I don't think they do.) Even so, they rely on computer-driven simulations of real-world situations.

These programs are getting more and more realistic, down to details like real-life ads on the walls. They allow up-and-coming racecar drivers to practice their skills without ever setting foot on a racetrack.

And the pros can safely train in different weather conditions and prepare for unfamiliar courses, all from the comfort of their homes.

It's not only NASCAR drivers, either. Movie producers have used driving simulator BeamNG.drive to test scripted car scenes before replicating them in real life.

And in the investing world, new technology allows you to take stock ideas for a "test drive"...

Hundreds of websites offer data-driven models and opinions about the markets. Each of these small insights can add up to valuable analysis.

Tools like Trefis can help you visualize a company's key performance metrics. And chatbots such as ChatGPT can provide a different perspective on industry trends.

You can even invest based on the stars with Bull & Moon – a website developed to help investors match stocks to their astrological signs.

We're sure those indecisive Libras need more help cutting through the pros and cons of the latest "meme stock." And how else would a patient Taurus know which dividend stocks are best?

To be clear: We don't recommend letting astrology determine your portfolio composition. If you disagree, Altimetry Daily Authority is probably not the service for you.

On a serious note, many of these technology-based insights can help you hone your stock-picking strategy.

Investors have developed platforms that pull company data from multiple sources... analyze earnings calls for management opinions... and read between the lines on financial statements.

That's exactly the sort of research we do here at Altimetry to find market-beating stocks.

New innovative investment tools are emerging every day...

And they're changing the economy at a faster and faster rate.

We've been playing with a new tool recently called Hila.ai. Hila is an artificial-intelligence ("AI") bot that works similar to ChatGPT... except it compiles U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC") filings and earnings call transcripts. That's something ChatGPT still doesn't do.

I used Hila to upload a Yale professor's 100-plus-page financial research paper about the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The paper discussed how the resulting economic sanctions have hurt many companies.

I didn't have the time to read the entire paper. So I punched it into Hila and asked it to summarize the analysis. Hila also allowed me to search the companies mentioned in the paper... and see how those firms discussed the impact of the Russian invasion on their performance.

Hila is a free AI tool for now. I recommend giving it a try. And if you've seen any new, powerful investing tools, please drop me a line at [email protected].

Keep an eye on emerging technologies with applications in the investing world. They have the power to completely change your perspective on companies... and entire trends.

Meanwhile, I'm still waiting for Nintendo to produce a video-game version of fundamental research that I can play with my boys.

Wishing you love, joy, and peace,

Joel Litman
April 21, 2023