stock pickers
With commodity prices on an upswing, many investors have turned their attention to companies that produce and explore for minerals. These include Canadian gold stocks, especially in light of gold’s recent rise to over $1,030 U.S. an ounce. (In the current Stock Pickers Digest, we take a close look at a junior gold explorer we’ve recommended in the past. It has a presence in one of the world’s most productive gold-producing regions. What’s more, it’s up 72.2% for us since early this year. Read on for further details.)
Look beyond gold prices when investing in junior exploration firms
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AMAZON.COM INC., $95.96, symbol AMZN on Nasdaq, is now selling its Kindle e-book reader in over 100 countries. The reader will ship on October 19, and will cost $279 U.S. Canada has not yet been included in the expansion. That’s because Amazon has not reached a deal with a wireless carrier, such as BCE, Rogers or Telus. Kindle users can download files from Amazon’s Kindle store, which contains over 350,000 books. Most bestsellers and new releases are just $9.99 U.S. each. International users will pay an extra $1.99 U.S. Users can also download leading U.S. and international magazines and newspapers, as well as over 1,200 blogs....
The price of uranium rose steadily from $7.10 U.S. a pound in December 2000 to as high as $138 U.S. a pound in June 2007.
We’ve had a lot of success over the years with the aggressive investing stock picks we recommend in our Stock Pickers Digest newsletter. Aggressive picks have the potential to give you bigger gains than your conservative selections. Even so, aggressive stocks are best suited to investors who can accept substantial risk in the portion of their portfolios that they devote to these types of investments. You can be wrong on any of your stock picks, of course. But when you’re wrong on a speculative stock, your losses are likely to be larger than they would be with a well-established company....
Natural-gas prices have recently moved dramatically higher, jumping 57.5% to $3.78 U.S. per thousand cubic feet since early September. That’s when natural gas hit a seven-year low of $2.40 U.S. per thousand cubic feet. Since then, a number of economic reports have pointed to a continued rebound. The resulting increase in industrial activity will lift natural-gas demand.
Production cuts will help lower natural-gas supplies
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FAIRFAX FINANCIAL HOLDINGS $396.80 (Toronto symbol FFH: SI Rating: Average) (416-367-2612; www.fairfax.ca; Shares outstanding: 19.7 million; Market cap: $7.8 billion) plans to buy the 27.4% of Odyssey Re Holdings Corp. (New York symbol ORH) that it doesn’t already own for $960 million U.S. Odyssey Re is a major worldwide underwriter of property and casualty reinsurance. Reinsurers sell insurance to insurance companies. This lets those companies offset large risks. To pay for the purchase, Fairfax will raise $1 billion U.S. by selling 2.9 million shares at $347.00 U.S. a share....
FAIRFAX FINANCIAL HOLDINGS, $371.00, symbol FFH on Toronto, plans to buy the 27.4% of Odyssey Re Holdings Corp. (New York symbol ORH) that it doesn’t already own for $960 million U.S. Odyssey Re is a major worldwide underwriter of property and casualty reinsurance. Reinsurers sell insurance to insurance companies. This lets those companies offset large risks. To pay for the purchase, Fairfax will raise $1 billion U.S. by selling 2.9 million shares at $347.00 U.S. a share....
Gold has been attracting investor interest because it recently broke out of the $930 to $960 U.S. range that it had been trading in and climbed over $1,000. The last time gold was over $1,000 was last March. In November, it dropped to $700 as stock-market prices fell sharply.
Many investors see investing in gold as a safe haven
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As we mentioned in a recent Stock Pickers Digest Hotline, True Energy Trust, $0.76, symbol TUI.UN on Toronto (Units outstanding: 78.5 million; Market cap: $59.7 million), plans to convert itself into a conventional corporation by late October 2009. The trust recently sold the bulk of its oil and gas assets in Saskatchewan for roughly $86 million, which it put toward its debt. True’s long-term debt now stands at $110 million. That’s still a high 184.3% of its market cap. But the trust reported cash flow of $10.5 million, or $0.14 a unit, in the latest quarter. This will let it keep paying down debt and maintain production. True suspended its monthly distributions earlier this year because of falling energy prices and difficult credit markets....
AEROPOSTALE INC., $39.70, symbol ARO on New York, reported higher sales and profits this week. In the three months ended August 1, 2009, Aeropostale’s same-store sales rose 12%, and online sales jumped 49%, to $15.8 million from $10.6 million. The company’s earnings jumped 83.3%, to $38.6 million, or $0.57 a share, from $21.1 million, or $0.31 a share. Revenue rose 20.1%, to $453 million from $377.1 million a year earlier. Aeropostale’s wide variety of clothing, low prices and aggressive promotions were the main reasons behind the company’s strong results....