Barron's Daily Stock Alert: Fleming Meeks

Students had the opportunity to speak with Barron’s Daily Stock Alert editor and writer Fleming Meeks in his Wall Street office today.

Meeks said his job is to provide readers with a daily e-mailed profile of one stock and recommend a buying or selling strategy. On Fridays, Meeks updates previous stock profiles and offers current insight for buying and selling.

One advantage to his publication, Meeks said, is the great profitability it provides.

“The experiment right now is can you have a high value, low cost production,” Meeks said. With low overhead cost in staff members, free advertising from Barron’s magazine and the Wall Street Journal and no print editions to distribute, expenditures are minimal. Subscriptions for the exclusive stock e-mails are $800 per year.

Meeks said other publications would have a difficult time mimicking Barron’s Daily Stock Alert’s business plan because making money solely on advertisements is not yet feasible. Studies have shown recall on advertising content is 10 times lower online than in print, meaning Web sites would have to attract 10 times as many readers for equal exposure.

Part of what his publication sells is credibility, Meeks said.

“The stocks that I picked lost less in the market,” Meeks said. Last year, consumers who followed Meeks’ advice would have sustained losses of roughly two percent less than average investors.

Despite increasing internet traffic from bloggers, Meeks said he and other news sources should not be worried.

“Without the news, bloggers don’t have anything to write about,” Meeks said. Despite the downward economic situation and the “worst possible time” for launching this type of publication, Meeks said journalism will always hold a place for those who can write and report important information.

-Derek Casanovas and Jasmine Linabary

Want to hear more from Meeks? Check out the video below: