Posts for Ticker ‘gold’

Gold Trends Ahead of Miner Earnings (ABX, GG, GOLD, AU, GLD)

Gold ImageBen Bernanke thinks the risks of inflation may be overstated or those fearing major inflation may be misguided.  But that feeling is still not shared by many on Wall Street and also not shared by many on Main Street.  In fact, the recent return of gold prices off the $900 mark to almost $950 and the return of oil back close to $65.00 per barrel have many wondering if that higher Producer Pricing Index data from June could get a repeat either in July or in August.  Our guess is August rather than July, but there is still almost two trading weeks left in the month of July.  We have earnings coming from some majors in the next week and wanted to evaluate those trends for Barrick Gold (NYSE: ABX), Goldcorp (NYSE: GG) Randgold Resources Limited (NASDAQ: GOLD), and Anglogold Ashanti Limited (NYSE: AU).  The SPDR Gold Shares (NYSE: GLD) of course offer the most direct investment in bullion without the operational risks tied to individual companies.
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Top Analyst Downgrades (COP, EXBD, GET, NSR, PSA, GOLD)

These are the top pre-market analyst downgrades or cautious research calls we have seen from Wall Street this Thursday morning:

Conoco Philips (COP) Started as Sell at Societe Generale.
Corporate Executive Board (EXBD) Cut to Underperform at Baird.
Gaylord Entertainment Co. (GET) Cut to Underperform at FBR.
Neustar (NSR) Cut to Hold at Deutsche Bank.
Public Storage (PSA) Started as Underperform at KBW.
Rangold Resources (GOLD) Cut to Hold at Citigroup.

JON C. OGG

Day Trader Alerts (IMMR, DROOY, GOLD, AU, AUY, SPPI, AMAG, UBS, CS, OSK, FRPT, NAV, MYGN)

We have provided links through on our day trading alerts page this morning.  Each stock is seeing active trading right before the open and brief explanations and analysis are offered at VSInvestor.com:

You can check each morning at VSInvestor.com for earlier pre-market indications in stocks on the move you might not have seen.

Jon C. Ogg

Gold Miners Staging Breakouts (GDX, AU, GOLD, RGLD, ABX, AUY, GG, NEM)

Gold has been making a serious comeback and many are talking about the $1,000 per ounce level again as being ahead shortly.  This latest run is with energy prices screaming, the US Dollar getting pounded again, and with the fears that all this new money being printed is going to create much higher inflation down the road.  When gold was making the same sort of run to $1,000 earlier this year, that was because of the fear premium.  The other difference is that in this move, we are now starting to see a technical break-out on the charts of some of the top gold miners that trade in the U.S. that are actually global operations.  The Market Vectors Gold Miners ETF (NYSE: GDX) was up 4% at $44.45 in early trading, and its 52-week trading range is $15.83 to $51.84.  Two gold stocks are making key break-outs: AngloGold Ashanti Ltd. (NYSE: AU) and Randgold Resources Limited (NASDAQ: GOLD).  Other large gold mining leaders are lagging, but you have to wonder how long that will last if the stock market stays strong and if the interest in the re-flation trade stays high.
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Gold Stocks to the Rescue? (ABX, GG, GLD)

Gold_picBack in July we noted that two big gold miners were pulling back on 2008 guidance. Barrick (NYSE:ABX) and Goldcorp (NYSE:GG) were both predicting production at the lower end of guidance and rising costs to get that gold out of the ground.  But the current financial market turmoil could make gold the last refuge as investors have to put their cash into something other than low-reward money market instruments.

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Goldman Sachs Conviction Buy List Changes In Gold Sector (ABX, FCX)

Goldman Sachs is making a key change in the gold sector this morning.  The investment banking giant is adding Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold (NYSE: FCX) to the Americas Conviction Buy List.  This stock is replacing Barrick Gold (NYSE: ABX) on the Americas Conviction Buy List.

FCX is noted as being down over 15% year to date and being inexpensive based on a 49% upside from current prices to Goldman’s 12-month $129.00 price target.  Its leverage in copper is perhaps one of the more favorable issues according to the note, and Goldman notes that it believes copper consumption will be least affected of the base metals in a Western economic slowdown.

Barrick’s removal from the Americas Conviction Buy List comes on the heels of strong performance, which is actually up 29% since being added to the list on November 27, 2007.  Barrick is also up some 90% since April 2006 when it was first given a Buy rating.  Goldman Sachs is still maintaining its official Buy rating on Barrick along with a $66 price target.  The firm believes this was the beneficiary of higher gold prices over $900/ounce as the stock outperformed mining and metals peers.  It also believes this is a top gold investment vehicle.

This call looks more like a relative value call based upon performance and value, and it could even be an implied pairs trade in the sector to some.

Jon C. Ogg
January 31, 2008

BHP Billiton’s Major Gold Expectations

BHP Billiton Ltd. (NYSE:BHP) is seeing shares up more than 5% in pre-market activity at $76.65 at what will be new 52-week highs for its ADR’s.  The word is out that the world mining giant is going to announce on Wednesday what may be the world’s largest gold resource at its Olympic Dam mine in southern Australia.  You can read the full story at the Herald Sun site where the news came out.

There are some interesting ongoing events that surround this location.  BHP has been reportedly been operating up to 20 drilling rigs at the mine to justify the major expansion of more than $6 billion expanding the mine.  This mine already sits atop the world’s largest uranium resource and is among the world’s largest copper and silver deposits.

As far as if this is the "Largest" is still not known.  In a world where gold is harder and harder to find and where supposedly most of the "known finds" close to the surface have been made, you have to wonder how much hype has been added in on this story by eager analysts and demanding goals. 

BHP Billiton hopefully won’t ever allow itself to get into Bre-X situation, and we don’t think this is anywhere in the same light at all.  This company is far too large and too reputable for that.  But when you hear about "the largest find in the world" it’s hard not being at least a little skeptical when you know how demanding the expectations are on the company.

Jon C. Ogg
September 24, 2007

52-Week Highs For September 7, 2007 (AEM, ABX, BDE, DRYS, GLD, GOLD, INSW, IVGN, JNPR, NWK, NYB, PDX, PLMD, RICK)

Usually we cover 52-week lows as many traders look for the bottom fishing opportunities in battered and tattered stocks.  But on big down days it is often important to look at which shares put in 52-WEEK HIGHS.  Some of these didn’t close above their prior yearly highs, but you get the idea.  Here is how crummy the market was today:

DJIA            13113.38     -249.97     -1.87%
NASDAQ    2565.7          -48.62       -1.86%
S&P500      1453.55       -25.00       -1.69%

The prevailing thought is that if stocks stay strong on a weak and crummy weak, imagine how well they’d do in an up-market.  With strong gold you’ll notice a few gold names on here.  Among others are a few tech names, and surprisingly a topless bar operator (not kidding). Here goes:

AGNICO Eagle Mines (NYSE:AEM) $49.19; 52-week $27.24-$48.35
Barrick Gold Corp. (NYSE:ABX) $36.36; 52-week $26.94-$36.46
Bois d’Arc Energy (NYSE:BDE) $18.83; 52-week $12.49- $18.75
DryShips, Inc. (NASDAQ:DRYS) $76.92; 52-week $12.63-$76.45
streetTRACKS Gold Shares (NYSE:GLD) $69.39; 52-week $55.55-$69.08
InsWeb Corp. (NASDAQ:INSW) $8.90; 52-week $1.96-$8.80
***Invitrogen (NASDAQ:IVGN) $80.00; $54.70-$80.56
***Juniper Networks (NASDAQ:JNPR) $34.58; 52-week $16.50-$35.09
Network Equipment Tech (NYSE:NWK) $11.54; 52-week $4.06-$11.54
***New York Community Bancorp (NYSE:NYB) $18.41; 52-week $15.69-$18.43
Pediatrix Medical Group (NYSE:PDX) $62.52; 52-week $43.85-$61.69
***PolyMedica (NASDAQ:PLMD) $51.86; 52-week $35.82-$51.97
Randgold Resources Ltd. (NASDAQ:GOLD) $28.48; 52-week $19.10-$27.42
Rick’s Cabaret (NASDAQ:RICK) $11.41; 52-week $5.02-$11.21

***denotes stocks that hit new highs intraday but didn’t hold them

Jon C. Ogg
September 7, 2007

Jon Ogg can be reached at jonogg@247wallst.com; he does not own securities in the companies he covers.

Bears In Them Thar Gold Hills (GLD, ABX, NEM, AUY, AU, RGLD)

What is the one sector that is viewed as a safe haven in scary times?  Outside of water it’s gold, and gold is easier to invest in than water as far as the stock market is concerned.  But when you get a worry that we might be heading into a ‘deflationary environment’ gold isn’t viewed as a safety net.  On last look, the shiny metal itself was down to $661.00 and was almost $672.00 when I woke up this morning. The DJIA fell almost 400 points to 13,270.68.  Check this out:

The StreetTracks Gold Trust (NYSE:GLD), the ETF that tracks gold prices on a 1:10 ratio of the price of an ounce of the shiny metal, fell 1.95% to $65.46. 

Barrick Gold Corp. (NYSE:ABX) fell almost 1% to $33.77, still with a $29.2 Billion market cap.  Goldcorp Inc. (NYSE:GG) fell 3% to $24.92 and AngloGold Ashanti (NYSE:AU) fell 2.6% to $37.45.  Yamana Gold (NYSE:AUY) fell 3% to $10.92, and it’s one of Jim Cramer’s favorites.  Newmont Mining Corp. (NYSE:NEM) is back to mostly being unhedged and it fell 2.15% to $41.42. 

Royal Gold Inc. (NASDAQ:RGLD) was one of the few bright spots with a 0.4% gain to $31.52, mainly because of a press release of an amended merger pact with Battle Mountain Gold.

Jon C. Ogg
August 9, 2007

Jon Ogg can be reached at jonogg@247wallst.com; he does not own securities in the companies he covers.