gold prices
IAMGold, symbol IMG on Toronto, owns 38% of the Sadiola mine and 40% of the Yatela mine, both located in Mali; 100% of the Mupane gold mine in Botswana, 90% of the Essakane gold mine in Burkina Faso; 100% of the Doyon mine in Quebec; and 100% of the Rosebel mine in Suriname, South America. We analyze IAMGold in Stock Pickers Digest, our newsletter that recommends stocks (including gold mining stocks) for the part of your portfolio you devote to aggressive investing. IAMGold also owns the Niobec niobium mine in Quebec, and has a 1% royalty interest in the Diavik diamond mine in the Northwest Territories....
When investors develop and act on strong investment views—on subjects such as the outlook for oil prices, say, or gold prices, or interest rates—they generally lose money overall. That’s because strong views on subjects like these tend to distort your investment decisions.
For instance, if you know (or think you know) that oil is sure to rise in the next six months or a year, say, then you are sure to invest more heavily in oil stocks than you would if you took a less extreme—that is, more balanced—view of the situation. You will also tend to invest in riskier oil stocks, rather than proven producers....
Stock market advice: Relying on predictions can tempt you to take on too much risk
COMPUTER MODELLING GROUP LTD., $12.43, symbol CMG on Toronto, makes software and supplies services that help its clients get as much oil as possible from their existing wells. The company makes mostly recurring revenue from software licences and consulting contracts. That gives it long-term stability. In the three months ended June 30, 2011, Computer Modelling’s revenue rose 32.2%, to $15.9 million from $12.1 million a year earlier. Licence revenue rose 42%; that more than offset a 19% drop in consulting and professional services revenue, due to the strong Canadian dollar. Earnings rose 57.6%, to $6.7 million, or $0.18 a share, from $4.2 million, or $0.12 a share....
PFIZER INC. $18 (New York symbol PFE; Income Portfolio, Consumer sector; Shares outstanding: 7.8 billion; Market cap: $140.4 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 2.1; Dividend yield: 4.4%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.pfizer.com) has extended the patent on Viagra, its popular erectile-dysfunction drug, to October 2019. That will block rival Teva Pharmaceuticals Inc. (Nasdaq symbol TEVA) from selling a generic version. Pfizer gets $2 billion a year from Viagra, or 3% of its annual sales of $67 billion. Pfizer is a buy. MCDONALD’S CORP. $90 (New York symbol MCD; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Consumer sector; Shares outstanding: 1.0 billion; Market cap: $90.0 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 3.6; Dividend yield: 2.7%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.mcdonalds.com) saw its overall same-store sales rise 5.1% in July 2011. That’s down from a 7.0% sales gain in July 2010....
On Monday, gold closed at a new record high of $1,898.10 U.S. an ounce. Prices have since pulled back to around $1,861.30 U.S., but that’s
Endeavour Silver Corp., symbol EDR on Toronto, operates the Guanacevi and Guanajuato silver/gold mines in Mexico. We analyze Endeavour in Stock Pickers Digest, our newsletter for investing in aggressive stocks—including junior mining stocks. In the three months ended June 30, 2011, the junior mining stock’s revenue rose 84.7%, to $36.4 million from $19.7 million a year earlier (all amounts except share prices in U.S. dollars). The company earned $0.20 a share in the latest quarter, compared to a loss of $0.05 a share. Cash flow rose 125.0%, to $0.27 a share from $0.12 a share....
When investors see a day like Thursday, with a drop of more than 500 points in the Dow Jones Industrials, they can’t help but wonder if we face a replay of the 2007-2009 market plunge. However, though today’s situation could turn out badly, that’s not inevitable. It’s much different from a few years ago. The 2007-2009 drop was mostly about the collapse of the housing boom and everything that went with it. Today there is no boom that could deflate and bring down the economy. Today’s problem grows out of government attempts at ‘fixing’ the economy in recent years. These fixes, which were mostly unsuccessful, bloated government spending and created huge debts. Today’s main market worry is how the U.S. federal government will attempt to fix its budget deficit and bring its debt down to a manageable level. To top things off, the Obama administration has also brought in big changes in health care, union and environmental rules and so on. Some of these changes face court challenges and political opposition. But some are sure to survive and go into effect. Others are sure to follow....
NEWMONT MINING $57.12 (New York symbol NEM; Shares outstanding: 500.4 million; Market cap: $27.4 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Average; Dividend yield: 2.1%; www.newmont.com) is one of the world’s largest gold miners. It has major mines in the U.S., Australia and Peru. In the three months ended June 30, 2011, Newmont earned $1.06 a share before one-time items. That’s up 35.9% from $0.78 a share a year earlier (all figures in U.S. dollars). The gains came despite a 16% rise in the company’s overall cost of producing an ounce of gold, to $588 an ounce from $507. Newmont paid more for labour, fuel and raw materials in the quarter. Revenue rose 11.0%, to $2.4 billion from $2.2 billion. The company continues to benefit from rising gold prices....
BHP BILLITON LTD. ADRs, $91.08, New York symbol BHP, is buying Petrohawk Energy Corp. (New York symbol HK), which produces oil and natural gas from properties in Texas and Louisiana. The $12.1-billion purchase price is equal to 5% of BHP’s $242.6-billion market cap. The company held cash of $16.6 billion at December 31, 2010, so it can comfortably afford this acquisition. BHP expects to close the deal by September 30, 2011. BHP is mostly a mining company, but is expanding its oil and gas operations. This purchase will give BHP control of roughly one million acres in the large Haynesville, Eagle Ford and Permian Basin shale-gas discoveries. (Shale gas is natural gas that is trapped in rock formations. To extract it, companies must pump water and chemicals into the rock. This fractures the rock and releases the natural gas.)...
Prices of many commodities have moved down from their recent peaks on concerns about the global economic recovery. Rather than selling, the best way to cut your risk in the volatile resource sector is to stick with well-established mining companies with high-quality reserves like Newmont, Alcoa and BHP. As well, these firms mainly operate in politically stable areas, like North America and Australia. NEWMONT MINING CORP. $54 (New York symbol NEM; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Resources sector; Shares outstanding: 493.7 million; Market cap: $26.7 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 3.0; Dividend yield: 1.5%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.newmont.com) gets 85% of its revenue from its gold mines in the U.S., Canada, Mexico, Australia, New Zealand, Peru, Indonesia and Ghana. The remaining 15% comes from copper, silver, zinc and other metals....