Newmont Corp.

INTEL CORP. $22.67, Nasdaq symbol INTC, fell 15% this week on fears that rising loan writedowns at major banks would hurt sales of new computers. Banks are large buyers of computer technology. A slowing economy could also hurt new computer demand at other big corporations. However, Intel’s recent restructuring will help it stay profitable even if sales weaken. The launch of new, faster chips in the second half of 2008 should also expand its lead over rival chipmaker Advanced Micro Devices, particularly in the corporate server segment. Intel is a buy. NEWMONT MINING CORP. $52.42, New York symbol NEM, gained $4 this week as gold surged to a new record of $869.05 an ounce, surpassing the old peak of $850 reached in 1980....

NEWMONT MINING $49.42 (New York symbol NEM; SI Rating: Average) is one of the largest gold producers in the world with major operations in the United States, Canada, Peru, Australia, Indonesia and Ghana. Newmont expects to produce over 6.3 million ounces of gold this year. Newmont’s Canadian subsidiary Franco-Nevada Corp. has sold 82 million shares to the public. Franco-Nevada will use the $1.3 billion proceeds from the initial public offering to purchase 190 base and precious metals mining royalty interests plus 100 oil and gas royalty properties from Newmont. This will give Newmont $1.3 billion in cash to pay for its recent $1.5 billion purchase of TSX-listed Miramar Mining. It will also let it focus on its core gold mining business....

LA-Z-BOY INC. $6.00 (New York symbol LZB; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 51.4 million; Market cap: $308.4 million; WSSF Rating: Average) has struggled lately as the slump in the housing market has cut demand for new furniture. In its second fiscal quarter ended October 27, 2007, the company lost $0.07 a share from continuing operations, due to $0.08 a share in one-time charges. It earned $0.06 a share in the year-earlier quarter. Sales fell 11.9%, to $365.4 million from $414.6 million. Meanwhile, La-Z-Boy is doing a good job controlling its inventory. That puts it in a good position to profit when sales rebound. A cut to the $0.48 dividend, which yields 8.0%, is a possibility. But the stock would still yield 4.0% even after a 50% reduction. La-Z-Boy is a buy for patient investors....

APPLE INC. $184.70, Nasdaq symbol AAPL, earned $3.93 a share in its fiscal year ended September 29, 2007, up 73.1% from $2.27 in the prior year. The gains came from strong demand for Apple’s new iPod music players, iPhone and Mac computers. Revenue rose 24.4%, to $24.0 billion from $19.3 billion. Apple is debt free, and has $15.4 billion ($17.64 a share) in cash. It spends roughly 12% of its revenue of $27 a share on research. Apple’s strong reputation for design and convenience, as well as its loyal customer base, should continue to spur growth. However, at 40.7 times its fiscal 2008 profit forecast of $4.54 a share, the stock is vulnerable to a big drop if the company fails to meet its revenue and earnings targets. Apple is still a hold for aggressive investors....

MOLSON COORS BREWING CO. $55.05, New York symbol TAP, has agreed to merge its operations in the United States and Puerto Rico with those of rival brewer SAB Miller PLC. Each will have 50% voting interest in this new venture, called MillerCoors, but Miller will have a 58% economic interest while Molson Coors will have 42%. This new joint venture will account for about 27% of the beer market in the United States. That should help it compete with Anheuser-Busch (see below), which accounts for about half of U.S. beer sales. Assuming regulators approve, the new company should begin operations in 2008. Like the earlier merger of Molson and Coors, the main attraction of this plan is cost savings. Molson Coors expects to save $500 million a year by sharing its distribution networks and other assets with Miller. To put that in context, Molson Coors earned $184.3 million or $1.02 a share in the second quarter of 2007....

AMERICAN EXPRESS CO. $59.28, New York symbol AXP, has agreed to sell its international banking business for $1.1 billion. That figure includes $212 million that Amex will receive over the next 18 months from the transfer of a related operation. To put these amounts in perspective, Amex earned $1.06 billion or $0.88 a share in the second quarter of 2007. The company will probably invest most of the cash in its core card and travel operations, or buy back shares. American Express is a buy....

APPLE INC. $132.30, Nasdaq symbol AAPL, rose to a new all-time high following the successful launch of the iPhone. The new product uses an estimated $266 worth of parts, which suggest it will produce a gross profit of roughly $250 per unit. Apple aims to sell 10 million iPhones in the first year, which works out to an aggregate profit of $2.5 billion. The company earned just $2.0 billion or $2.27 a share in the fiscal year ended September 30, 2006. However, Apple is unlikely to dominate the mobile phone market in the same way its iPod quickly captured a big part of the music player market. If Apple fails to meet its iPhone sales target, the stock could fall sharply. Apple is still a hold....

SONY CORP. ADRs $51 (New York symbol SNE; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; ADRs outstanding: 1.0 billion; Market cap: $51.0 billion; WSSF Rating: Above average) has outfitted its new PlayStation 3 video game player with its Blu-ray high-definition DVD technology. Sony feels this will help Blu-ray become the dominant format for high-definition DVDs. The plan seems to be working. Blu-ray now has about 70% of the market. Video rental chain Blockbuster now plans to carry only Blu-ray titles, which should spur more demand for Blu-ray players. Sony is a buy....

NEWMONT MINING $39 (New York symbol NEM; SI Rating: Average) is one of the largest gold producers in the world with major operations in the United States, Canada, Peru, Australia, Indonesia and Ghana. It also produces other metals, including copper, silver and zinc. The company expects to produce around 7 million ounces of gold this year. Like most mining companies, Newmont is facing higher costs for labor, energy and materials. Commodity prices have eased lately, so these costs should stabilize in 2007. Newmont now trades at a reasonable (for a gold stock) 19.7 times the $1.98 a share it will probably earn in 2007, and at 12.6 times its forecasted cash flow of $3.10 a share. The $0.40 dividend yields 1.0%....

SHORE GOLD $5.86 (Toronto symbol SGF; SI Rating: Start-up) (306-664-2202; www.shoregold.com; Shares outstanding: 177.2 million; Market cap: $1.0 billion) owns 100% of the Star diamond project in the Fort a la Corne area of northern Saskatchewan, an area that hosts one of the most extensive kimberlite fields in the world. The Star project contains a diamond-bearing kimberlite, estimated in the 500 million tonne range. Bulk sampling has already returned high carat-grades of diamonds. Kimberlites are cone-shaped pipes, comprised of a mixture of magma (molten rock) and rock that is carried by volcanic activity to the surface of the earth from depths greater than 150 kilometers. Diamonds form at those depths, under a mixture of extreme pressure and high temperatures. Kimberlites may also pick up diamonds along the way — and sometimes in quantities large enough to justify a diamond mine. Shore Gold also holds 60% of the Fort a la Corne Joint Venture. Fort a la Corne (which consists of a number of drill-confirmed kimberlite bodies and macrodiamond findings) does not include Shore Gold’s main Star Diamond project. After acquiring 100% of the project last year, Shore Gold sold a 40% interest to Newmont Mining for $170.4 million. Newmont already holds a 9.9% interest in Shore Gold’s common shares....