HedgeyeReviews of hedgeye.com

Have subscribed to "The Call", The Macro Show and "Real Alert" from Hedgeye for 18 months. First the positive: they can be entertaining (for some) while they speak about a traditionally boring topic such as finance. In that regard, for someone looking for some form of light entertainment while searching for ETF and stock picks, the platform does the trick. On a more professional level, I have found their services largely irrelevant (regurgitation of many analysis and research you can find on seeking alpha or other newsletters), untimely and in some cases true calls for disaster (I remember recently a Marcus Lamonis reco for his turnaround BYON). You can easily lose A LOT of money following blindly their recommendations, particularly when it comes to stock picks. "The call" is superficial and never offers any particular insights you wouldn't find by doing some targeted research on a company on Seeking Alpha. Many of the picks are late in the move and in some cases disastrous recommendations. Keith McCollough is a toxic, offensive and negative personality ready to dispense insults to whoever is not associated with the company. He can be fun and entertaining at times, but the disproportionate ego takes him down rabbit holes of rants on all topics: the media, his competitors, America, the FED, and yes...the average retail investor (whom he often calls "dumb"). It seems there is only two smart parties at the tables: a select list of his large institutional investors (he won't lose the opportunity to let you know the "big money" pays him the "big bucks" to listen to what he has to say, which may be true but not an excuse to be offensive towards everybody else), and himself. Everyone else lacks intelligence and skill to "play the game at his level": CNBC and their hosts, other analysts, Wall Street as a whole, and the many retail investors approaching the business with their savings. It is annoying after all to pay a subscription and feel insulted (or hear others getting unknowingly insulted) on a daily basis. I get they need to find some marketing edge and they found that in the "us against them" marketing positioning, but we are not at war in this business. Or at least I don't want to feel that way, having done OK for myself so far without them. Personally I found I didn't need that kind of energy in my head while making investment decisions.

I have been an Hedgeye subscriber for over 2 years now, rotating across most if not all of their products. Macro, Macro Show, The Call, the Analysts picks, HedgeAI, ETF Plus and others. I eventually decided to keep my services to the minimum and ONLY use Hedgeye for a minimum amount of input into my decision making, and re-allocate my research budgets to other, more analytics driven and balanced platforms. Hedgeye in my opinion is an overhyped marketing machines, very smartly built to extract the maximum amount of money from the retail investor by slicing and dicing the same information in small bits and pieces and across several products and services. Keith McCollough (the CEO) is a born salesman and won't stop trying to constantly cross and upsell you at ANY opportunity. In detail, The Call is a service that comes at a relatively affordable price, but basically acts as a marketing opportunity to sell other products for Hedgeye. The analyst recommendations arrive too late to be meaningful (when the stock has already run), many shorts are unreliable, and some "picks" a straight disaster ready to happen (I can recall BYON, REAL, PURPLE Innovation, Leslies, Celsious which was recommended at the top and went on to lose 60% thereafter). The information is very superficial and the one hour show ends up being a platform for Keith's rants against everybody not associated with Hedgeye: the old wall, CNBC (called a "comedy show"), Josh Brown (insulted with Keiths "Drawdown Josh"), Tom Lee (called Telecom Tom) and other insults against CNBC commentators and analysts. From time to time, Keith also insults the average retail investor, only masques behind his excuse of making his "old self" (a narcissistic way to still push for the sale, while faking self deprecation). There is a tendency at hedgeye to only focus on the correct calls and over hype the success, and avoid recognizing giant mistakes that drive massive losses. So the impression is that they are "always right", and everyone else is always an idiot to follow "bubbles", "narratives" and "snake oil sales pitches". The reality is that the part of my account that followed Keith's recommendations has shown a 9% return, against a market benchmark of 17% during the same year, a Nasdaq 21% performance (same period of time), and a 19% from the balance of my portfolio, invested using other research input. So, overall, they have some good calls, they are generally conservative with risk management, and they have some very bad calls as well, driving negative returns in the 50-60% range. They don't share returns on their managed portfolios as far as I know. From the trades I tracked, these generally offer returns between 0.5-2% on short durations. Some longer term holdings I have seen posting gains in the 10-15%. It has some benefits as one of the inputs from a multi-pronged research approach including other sources and self directed due diligence, but I wouldn't rely upon them for all decisions.

I've been a subscriber for about four years, trying to decipher Hedgeye's various offerings. I have come to the conclusion that it's for professional traders only who want access to macro research and manage their portfolios based on GDP growth and inflation rate. Sadly, any offering is sold as a retail product, and most people who want to learn only do so by watching what Keith (the front man) does and not listening to what he says. Why offer only a glimmer of insight wrapped in hockey language? It's not sufficient to make informed investment decisions and taken literally; you risk losing a substantial portion of your wealth. I've learnt much about investing not because of Hedgeye but despite Hedgeye. And with anything the bottom line is: Buyer beware and do your own research. Using Portfolio Solutions, I've spent a day a week actively managing a portfolio, and sadly, the limits I put on at the end of the week for the next week's market are already a week late, and I may have well missed the opportunity. Since Keith is actively trading his portfolio DAILY and I WEEKLY (you only get an update once a week). That's not an invitation for an upsell to a daily product, it's evidence that the product does not fit the market profile for people who invest WEEKLY. For $1500 a year, I expect more than a weekly updated facsimile of Keith's long positions. I expect the rationale behind the investments, durations, limits, and entry and exit strategy. I'll look elsewhere.

Hedgeye provides a plethora of great research and a wide variety of products for different types of investors. It is designed for full-time investors or traders. It's very hard to use their products if you're not dedicated or if you're intermittently monitoring your investments like most retail types. Keith wants to coach the hardest working investors and does a great job of it, but beware if you can't keep up and stay nimble.

Don’t buy TGT stock until it is This Date. Really impressive and thank you all, Best wishes for hedgeye and team.

Their research is extremely comprehensive but very accessible. It is not surrounded by pretense but is geared to investors who want to up their game and be better at generating returns. I have learned so much and only wish I had more time to dedicate to using it.

I highly recommend Hedgeye for anyone looking for a reliable source of financial news. Unlike the often uninformative content from outlets like CNBC and Bloomberg, Hedgeye provides insightful, educational updates that really give me an edge in understanding the macroeconomic landscape. This helps me make informed decisions for my private and public investments, as well as my day-to-day business operations. Additionally, Keith McCullough is an exceptional part of my daily routine, serving as a mentor on par with figures like Tony Robbins or Dan Pena.

I always get direction when I'm unsure or confused about something. I like that I can take what I want from the research options.