Bull market trades
As the second war in Iraq was making the headlines, Marc was interesting in another battle: the search engine wars. LookSmart's biggest customer was Microsoft; the small search engine was printing its first profits and Wall Street sell-side analysts were predicting the shares 60% higher.
We begged to disagree: the quick stock dumping by insiders indicated that Microsoft might stop giving them business. Within six months, we closed for a 48% profit while the S&P 500 jumped 20%, a 68% overperformance or 182% annualized.
One week later, we saw potential in Gen-Probe (NASDAQ: GPRO) despite shares up 60% over the previous half year, in a down market. Business was strong, profits up threefold, insiders were buying, so it only made sense to give it a try. In at $11.72 at the April 17, 2003 open, we sold the shares six months later for a 107% profit while the S&P 500 was printing a 19% gain. That's an alpha of 88% in six months, or 253% annualized.
"Marc has an interesting concept and good trading ideas. His research is thought out well, and his performance is attractive." Daniel Ghirardi, Head of Sales, Pioneer Investments Switzerland
The founder of Inside ALPHA is Marc Mayor, who has devoted his career to helping people eliminate up to 98% of systemic risk, while making a positive, double-digit annualized performance in up, down and sideways markets 
