Teck gains from germ-killing copper

Article Excerpt

TECK RESOURCES LTD. $31 is a buy. The company (Toronto symbol TECK.B; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Resources sector; Shares outstanding: 531.1 million; Market cap: $16.5 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 1.7; Dividend yield: 0.7%; TSINetwork Rating: Extra Risk; www.teck.com) is a leading producer of copper, gold, zinc and metallurgical coal (which is used for making steel). COVID-19 has spurred interest in copper’s antimicrobial properties—the metal releases ions that kill bacteria and viruses on contact. Teck is now teaming up with the Toronto Transit Commission to install copper coatings on surfaces such as handrails inside public transit buses and trains. A recent five-week trial in Vancouver found that copper surfaces killed up to 99.9% of microbes on transit surfaces. Successful tests like these should spur manufacturers of frequently touched products, such as doorknobs, to use more copper over the next few years. Teck Resources is a buy. buy…