Silver Wheaton Corporation (NYSE: SLW) is up 6.7% at $34.07, and the 52-week trading range is $25.84 to $47.60.

Pan American Silver Corp. (NASDAQ: PAAS) is still only flat at $21.85 but it was lower before the FOMC comments today. The 52-week trading range is $19.93 to $43.06.

Goldcorp Incorporated (NYSE: GG) is up 5.2% at $46.70, and the 52-week trading range is $39.93 to $56.31.

Newmont Mining Corporation (NYSE: NEM) is up 3.4% at $59.43, and the 52-week trading range is $50.05 to $72.42.

Kinross Gold Corporation (NYSE: KGC) up over 6% at $11.23, and the 52-week trading range is $9.96 to $18.25.

Agnico-Eagle Mines Limited (NYSE: AEM) up 8% at $37.23, and the 52-week trading range is $34.36 to $76.49.

ETFs are rocking as well.  The Market Vectors Gold Miners ETF (NYSE: GDX) is up 5.3% at $54.58 against a 52-week range of $49.22 to $66.98.  Market Vectors Junior Gold Miners (NYSE: GDXJ) is up 6.5% at $28.66 against a 52-week range of $22.58 to $42.97.  The Global X Silver Miners ETF (NYSE: SIL) is up 3.9% at $23.69 and the 52-week range is $19.05 to $31.34.

The logic is simple enough… This signals extremely low interest rates and low costs of borrowing.  It also signals that investors will have to look elsewhere yet again to seek higher returns than short-term and intermediate-term Treasuries.  As this means that rates will be low in the U.S. for longer than expected, that is going to drive a weak dollar policy as long as things remain static in Europe and in other major economic zones.  That is the perfect storm for gold and silver as they are often inversely correlated to the dollar.

JON C. OGG

Kinross is making a bit of a comeback on speculation that the company may now be a takeover target. Larger Canadian gold miners Newmont Mining Corp. (NYSE: NEM) and Barrick Gold Corp. (NYSE: ABX) are included in the number of possible buyers, as are Goldcorp Inc. (NYSE: GG) and AngloGold Ashanti Ltd. (NYSE: AU). Another potential buyer is London-traded Polyus Gold International Ltd. according to a report at Bloomberg News.

Kinross acquired Canadian miner Red Back in 2010 for $7.8 billion, and the deal included the Tasiast mine in Tanzania. The Tanzanian mine is the cause of the goodwill writedown, but the simple fact is that Kinross paid way too much for Red Back. Kinross has admitted that itself.

Of the potential buyers, Polyus might be the one to take most seriously. The Russian company has said that it wants to become one of the three largest gold miners in the world. Acquiring Kinross would achieve that goal.

Kinross might also be a good acquisition for Newmont, which currently has few growth prospects according to an industry analyst cited by Bloomberg: “Newmont has no growth, whereas Kinross has plenty of growth projects.”

Kinross is now trading at around $10/share though its asset value is about double that. That’s still a $20 billion+ deal at a time when production costs are rising and the price of gold going forward is unclear.

Shares of Kinross are up about 1.5% at noon today at $10.25 in a 52-week range of $9.96-$18.25. Shares of the SPDR Gold Trust (NYSE: GLD) are up 0.27% at $161.65 in a 52-week range of $127.80-$185.85.

Paul Ausick

After the first half hour of trading, Ku6 Media is up nearly 98% at $2.73. Volume is already more than 15x the daily average. The Chinese online video company has signed an agreement with Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) to offer international viewers a Chinese video channel on YouTube.

Convio is up more than 48% at $15.90 after setting a 52-week high of $15.91. Volume is already 10x the daily average. The provider of software to non-profit organizations has agreed to be acquired by Blackbaud Inc. (NASDAQ: BLKB) for $16/share, or about $312 million.

Provident Energy is up nearly 22% at $11.35 after posting a new 52-week high of $15.42. Volume is double the daily average already. The processor of natural gas liquids (NGLs) is being acquired by Pembina Pipeline Corp. for about $3.1 billion in stock.

Kinross Gold is down more than -16% at $10.57 after posting a new 52-week low of $10.44 earlier. Volume is already nearly equal to the daily average. The gold mining company has said that it expects production to be flat in 2012, while costs will rise 12%-19%, and the company will also writedown goodwill at one of its mines.

Carnival is down nearly -14% at $29.53. Volume is already nearly triple the daily average. The cruise ship operator is sinking following the disaster off the Italian coast that has left 11 dead and 29 missing. We have more coverage here.

Paul Ausick

Investors should use these more for a review rather than any quick trading ideas because anything tied to gold and silver this Friday is taking it on the chin.

Zacks has a report noting that these funds “can be a source of comfort to investors when markets are heading south and the economy is passing through choppy weather.”  The aim is for higher consistent returns that outperform stocks.  These act as diversification and as protection against inflation.  Zacks has offered a list of its top 5 rated precious metals funds this morning, all of which have the Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy).

U.S. Global Investors Gold and Precious Metals (USERX) invests in companies whose primary operations are related to gold and other precious metals. The precious metals mutual fund has a ten year annualized return of 26.34%. The precious metals mutual fund has a minimum initial investment of $5,000 and an expense ratio of 1.80% compared to a category average of 1.40%.  After looking elsewhere, the three month return on Google was noted as +10.2% and the year-to-date return was -6.5%.  Its top holding was listed as Kinross Gold Corporation (NYSE: KGC) at almost 7.5% of the fund.

OCM Gold (OCMGX) invests in companies in the gold mining industry and may also invest in precious metals producers. The precious metals fund has a five year annualized return of 15.52%.  Google listed its 3 month return as 17.8% and a year-to-date return of almost 6%.  More than 12% of its assets were in Goldcorp, Inc. (NYSE: GG).

Fidelity Select Gold (FSAGX) invests in companies whose principal operations are related to gold, and it also invests in gold bullion and coins. Up to 25% of the fund’s assets may be invested in gold and other precious metals through a wholly-owned subsidiary. Zacks noted a return of 20.09% in the last one year period.  Google noted a return of +14.3% in the last three months and a return of +3.3% year-to-date.  The top three holdings are each 10% or more of the weighting and they are in Barrick Gold Corporation (NYSE: ABX), Goldcorp, Inc. (NYSE: GG), and Newcrest Mining Limited (NYSE: NCM).

GAMCO Gold AAA (GOLDX) invests at least 80% of its assets in companies which engage in gold-related activities, but a large portion of its assets are in foreign securities.  Zacks noted a three year annualized return of 20.68%.  Google noted a 3-month return of +17.7% and a year-to-date return of almost +4%.  The top two assets in the fund account for more than 23% of the entire fund and they are Randgold Resources, Ltd. ADR (NASDAQ: GOLD) and Newcrest Mining Limited (NYSE: NCM).

Unfortunately for the report, this is coming on a morning that gold and silver are getting hammered and are bring down anything and everything tied to them.  Here are all of Zacks #1 Rank funds.

JON C. OGG

Advance Auto Parts. Inc. (NYSE: AAP) Raised to Outperform at Credit Suisse.
Archer Daniels Midland (NYSE: ADM) maintained Underperform as Bear of the Day at Zacks.
Capital One Financial Corp. (NYSE: COF) Raised to Outperform at Wells Fargo.
Chevron Corp. (NYSE: CVX) Raised to Outperform at Oppenheimer.
Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ: CSCO) Raised to Buy at Stifel Nicolaus; Raised to Overweight at Morgan Stanley; Raised to Buy at Gleacher & Co.
Cree Inc. (NASDAQ: CREE) Raised to Overweight at Morgan Stanley.
Integrated Device Technology Inc. (NASDAQ: IDTI) Started as Buy at Wunderlich.
Intuitive Surgical, Inc. (NASDAQ: ISRG) Started as Hold at ThinkEquity.
Kinross Gold Corp. (NYSE: KGC) Cut to Neutral at CRedit Suisse.
National Oilwell Varco, Inc. (NYSE: NOV) Reiterated Buy as Value at Zacks.
NYSE Euronext Inc. (NYSE: NYX) Raised to Buy at Argus.
Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. (NASDAQ: TEVA) Reiterated Buy with $58 target at Argus.
Tidewater Inc. (NYSE: TDW) Reiterated Buy with $65 target at Argus.
Wyndham Worldwide (NYSE: WYN) Maintained Outperform as Bull of the Day at Zacks.

You are invited to join our free daily email distribution list to hear more about analyst upgrades and downgrades, top day trader and active trader alerts, dividend trends, news on Buffett and other investment gurus, IPOs, secondary offerings, private equity, and more.

JON C. OGG

Now we’ll check in with our own list of five great gold stocks. Winmill’s list included miners Eldorado Gold Corp. (NYSE: EGO), Avocent Mining plc (OTC: AVVGF), and Northern Dynasty Minerals Ltd. (AMEX: NAK). He also mentioned Rio Tinto plc (NYSE: RIO) and the SPDR Gold Trust (NYSE: GLD). We’re going to add a couple of others: Newmont Mining Corp. (NYSE: NEM), Kinross Gold Corp. (NYSE: KGC), AngloGold Ashanti Ltd. (NYSE: AU), and Peruvian miner Compania de Minas Buenaventura SA (NYSE: BVN). We’ll also look at popular ETFs iShares Gold Trust (NYSE: IAU), Market Vectors Gold Miners ETF (NYSE: GDX), and Market Vectors Junior Gold Miners ETF (NYSE: GDXJ).

Northern Dynasty Minerals Ltd. (AMEX: NAK), as Winmill noted, is not yet earning revenues, but this is one of his long-term plays, with large-scale production not scheduled to begin until 2016 or later. For those of us who don’t even buy green bananas, we’ll take a pass on this one. Friday’s closing price of $12.57 compares to a 52-week trading range of $6.00 to $21.76 and compares to a Thomson Reuters consensus analyst median price target of $38.94.

Avocet Mining plc (OTC: AVVGF) boasts a trailing P/E ratio of 25.7, and according to Winmill, the company’s focus on West Africa is not correctly valued in the market. On its home exchange in London (AVM), Avocet posts a trailing P/E of 38.64 on a market cap of around $640 million. This could be a bargain, but again, it’s likely to take some time. In London, AVM closed Monday at $45.50 in a 52-week range of $38.66-$52.86.

Rio Tinto plc (NYSE: RIO) is the largest company, by market cap, in this list. It’s valued at about $136 billion. It’s trailing P/E is 9.33 and its forward P/E is just 7.46. It owns a piece of Northern Dynasty’s biggest project and mines just about any mineral that’s worth anything to someone. But the company’s $10 billion in cash at the end of 2010 and more than $56 billion in property, plant, and equipment make it a force to be reckoned with. It’s forward dividend yield is 1.8%, not much, but the highest of any of the miners we’re looking at here. Shares closed Friday at $69.59 in a 52-week range of $39.30-$76.67, and the median price target is $94.93.

Newmont Mining Corp. (NYSE: NEM) posts a trailing P/E ratio of 12.6 and a forward P/E of 12.37. Newmont just raised its quarterly dividend to $0.20/share, which yields 1.4%. Analysts expect growth here, with a median price target of $73/share, about 20% higher than Friday’s closing price of $56.39. Newmont’s got to watch its cash costs, though, which are among the industry’s highest. Shares closed Friday at $56.39, within a 52-week range of $50.05-$65.50, and the median price target is $73.00.

Kinross Gold Corp. (NYSE: KGC) posts a trailing P/E ratio of 18.02 and a forward P/E of 16.61. It’s dividend yield is a paltry 0.6%. Kinross shares trade at a discount to other large miners, but at least one analyst believes that 2011 could close that gap as the company closes in on projects in Ecuador. Shares closed at $16.11 on Friday, within a 52-week range of $13.84-$19.90, with a median price target of $22.50.

AngloGold Ashanti Ltd. (NYSE: AU) posts a trailing P/E of 104.12 and a forward P/E of 9.72. The huge difference could be due to a very profitable first quarter and the end of Anglogold’s forward sales. The company no longer has any hedges and will sell all its production at spot rates. That will keep shares higher this year, but the effect will diminish going forward. Shares closed on Friday at $45.50, within a 52-week range of $38.55-$52.86, with a median price target of $64.40.

Compania de Minas Buenaventura SA (NYSE: BVN), like Newmont, pays a nice forward dividend yield of 1.4%. Its trailing P/E is 15.53, and its forward P/E is 11.55. The company increased its silver production in the first quarter by about a third over a year ago and BVN more than tripled its copper production. Diverse assets, like Rio, only much smaller. BVN closed at $44.34 on Friday, within a 52-week range of $34.91-$57.50, and the median price target is $53.00.

The SPDR Gold Trust (NYSE: GLD) is the largest holding in John Paulson’s hedge fund, at 13.51% of the portfolio’s value. Because the trust holds only bullion, it avoids all the dangers involved with mining. Same for the iShares Gold Trust (NYSE: IAU). SPDR Gold Trust closed at $149.70 on Friday, within a 52-week range of $113.08-$153.61. iShares Gold Trust closed at $15.01 on Friday, within a 52-week range of $11.32-$15.39.

The Market Vectors Gold Miners ETF (NYSE: GDX) and the Market Vectors Junior Gold Miners ETF (NYSE: GDXJ) spread the risk around the various miners. Newmont is one of the three largest holdings in GDX, and along with Barrick Gold Corp. (NYSE: ABX) and Goldcorp Inc. (NYSE: GG), make up more than a third of GDX’s holdings. The Gold Miners ETF closed at $57.92 on Friday, within a 52-week range of $46.80-$64.62. The Junior Gold Miners ETF closed at $37.44 on Friday, within a 52-week range of $24.25-$44.86.

So, skipping the two long-term plays, the best performer over the past 12 months has been Rio Tinto (up about 50%), followed by SPDR Gold Shares (up about 25%. Buenaventura finished up about 23% and AngloGold is up nearly 10%. Newmont is up about 5%. These five look good going forward.

Paul Ausick

Market Vectors Gold Miners ETF (NYSE: GDX) closed at $54.47 on Monday, up 0.5%, and the 52-week range is $45.88 to $64.62.  Shares are up 18.72% from the low and down 15.71% from the high. 
 
Market Vectors Junior Gold Miners ETF (NYSE: GDXJ) closed at $34.70 on Monday, up only $0.01 on the day, and the 52-week range is $24.25 to $44.86.  Shares are still up about 40% from the low but shares are down 22.65% from its high.
 
When it comes to bullion as a last example, the biggest and best is the SPDR Gold Trust (NYSE: GLD).  It closed at $145.37 on Monday after losing 0.2%.  The 52-week range is $113.08 to $153.61.  The ETF is up 28.55% from the lows of the last year but is down only 5.36% from the highs.  Now you know why investors flocked to the real metal rather than in the players of the metal… No tracking risk, at least that is the hope.

Agnico-Eagle Mines Ltd. (NYSE: AEM) closed at $61.61, down $0.35 on Monday.  The consensus price target from Thomson Reuters is currently $85.23 and the 52-week range is $54.12 to $88.20.  The company is also still one of the larger gold players with a $10.4 billion market cap.  Shares are up almost 14% from the lows but still down about 30% from the highs.

Kinross Gold Corporation (NYSE: KGC) closed at $14.27, after a $0.03 gain on Monday. Thomson Reuters has a consensus price target of $22.68 and the 52-week range is $13.84 to $19.90.  This is also one of the larger gold players with a $16 billion market cap.  Shares are only about 3% off the 52-week lows and are down about 28% from the highs of the last year.

Compania de Minas Buenaventura SA (NYSE: BVN) in Peru closed at $39.16 on Monday, Thomson Reuters has an average analyst target of $52.68, and the 52-week range is $32.81 to $57.20.  With a market cap of just under $10 billion, shares are still up almost 20% from the lows and down over 31% from the highs. 

Golden Star Resources, Ltd. (NYSE: GSS) is one of the smaller companies in our universe of gold players with a $667 million market cap.  Shares closed at $2.58 Monday and the 52-week range is $2.58 to $6.01.  Thomson Reuters has an estimate of $4.05 although we’d treat that loosely due to its size.  Shares are basically at 52-week lows now, but the stock has fallen 57% from its highs.  This peaked last November and has been falling ever since.

Jaguar Mining Inc. (NYSE: JAG) closed at $4.31, up $0.04 on Monday, and this is also a much smaller player with a market cap of about $363 million.  Thomson Reuters has an average price target of $8.11 on this one and the 52-week range is $4.11 to $10.60.  Shares are only up 5% from its 52-week lows, but they are still down almost 60% from the peak.  Realistically, Jaguar has been dropping since the middle of last summer.

Exeter Resource Corporation (AMEX: XRA) closed at $4.53, up $0.03 on Monday.  The market cap is small at just under $400 million and its 52-week range is $4.50 to $7.92. The stock is right at 52-week lows and is down over 40% from the 52-week high. Exeter has been falling since early last summer.

Picking a bottom in some of these names is close to impossible because of the issues that have been driving them down individually plus the commodities markets having an impact.  In others, picking a bottom is simple if you know exactly where the bottom in gold (and silver) happens to be. 

If you think the move has been exaggerated in gold, the one in silver put it to shame.  Still, those shares have been far more volatile than gold shares and that is for another session.

JON C. OGG

The Global X Pure Gold Miners ETF is a global fund and is not limited to US markets nor just to North America.  As of March 15, 2011, the Fund includes companies based in Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom, Hong Kong, Australia and Turkey.  As of March 10, 2011, the three largest components of the index were Gold Fields Ltd. (NYSE: GFI), Polyus Gold, and Kinross Gold Corporation (NYSE: KGC).  Other key holdings are AngloGold Ashanti Ltd. (NYSE: AU), Eldorado Gold Corp. (NYSE: EGO), Harmony Gold Mining Co. Ltd. (NYSE: HMY) and others.  A full list of the global holdings inside this ETF is here.

Management Fee is listed as 0.59% and the custody fee is 0.00%, for an annual fund operating expense of 0.59%.

JON C. OGG

Barrick reported fourth-quarter EPS of $0.90 on sales of $2.95 billion, compared with expectations of EPS of $0.84 on $2.74 billion in sales. Adjusted EPS equaled $0.95. Production totaled 7.77 million ounces of gold at a total cash cost of $457/ounce. For 2011, Barrick expects production of 7.6-8.0 million ounces of gold at a total cash cost of $450-$480/ounce.

Kinross posted adjusted fourth quarter EPS of $0.21 on revenue of $920.4 million. Analysts were expecting EPS of $0.15 on revenue of $924 million. Gold production totaled 2.33 million ounces for the full year at a cash cost $508/ounce. For 2011, Kinross projects production of 2.5-2.6 million ounces at an average cost of $565-$610.

AngloGold, based in South Africa, posted adjusted earnings for the fourth quarter of $294 million and for the full year of $787 million. The company was the last of the miners to close out its hedge book, and posted closeout costs for the year of $2.5 billion. The company now sells all its production at spot market prices. Total cash costs of production were $638/ounce, and the company produced 4.15 million ounces in 2010. For the full year 2011, the company expects to produce 4.55-4.75 million ounces at a total cash cost of $660-$685/ounce.

Much of the variation in cash costs for these producers results from the quality of the ore each is working with. For instance, Barrick’s Cortez Hills mine is very rich and the expected cash costs in 2011 are just $235-$265/ounce. Kinross noted an increase in proved and probable reserves at its Tasiast project in Mauritania where the average gold grade is two grams of gold for every metric ton of rock.

Along with rising cash costs, the gold miners are seeing the world’s largest gold-backed ETF, the SPDR Gold Trust (NYSE: GLD) sell off some of its bullion. In June the trust held about 1,320 metric tons, compared with about 1,224 metric tons today. The trust’s gold buying during much of 2009 and 2010 helped keep the price of gold high. If this trend continues, lower prices will put pressure on gold miners profits.

The Market Vectors Gold Miners ETF (NYSE: GDX) has actually outperformed the SPDR Gold Trust over the past 12 months, rising by about 30% compared with the Gold Trust’s rise of about 25%. The largest gains were made by the Market Vectors Junior Gold Miners ETF (NYSE: GDXJ) which rose more than 50% over the past 12 months.

For now, the gold miners are more in demand than the yellow metal they mine. That’s due to the other stuff they find when they dig for gold — stuff like copper and silver, which keep rising in price.

Paul Ausick

Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. (NYSE: AMD) Reiterated Buy and $12 price target at Gleacher & Co.
Brookfield Asset Management Inc. (NYSE: BAM) Started as Outperform with $38 target at Credit Suisse.
Genzyme Corporation (NASDAQ: GENZ) Cut to Hold at Jefferies.
Kinross Gold Corporation (NYSE: KGC) Cut to Hold at TD.
NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ: NTAP) Cut to Hold at Canaccord Genuity; Cut to Neutral at Piper Jaffray; Cut to Hold at Citigroup.
NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ: NVDA) Cut to Hold at Citigroup.
Orbitz Worldwide, Inc. (NYSE: OWW) Cut to Underweight at Piper Jaffray.
Pan American Silver Corp. (NASDAQ: PAAS) Cut to Hold at TD.
Sara Lee Corporation (NYSE: SLE) Cut to Underperform as Bear of the Day at Zacks.
Shutterfly, Inc. (NASDAQ: SFLY) Cut to Neutral at Zacks.
Stanley Black & Decker, Inc. (NYSE: SWK) Raised to Outperform as Bull of the Day at Zacks.
Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide Inc. (NYSE: HOT) Reiterated Buy and raised target to $74 at Argus.

You can join our free daily email distribution list to hear more about analyst upgrades and downgrades, top day trader and active trader alerts, dividend trends, news on Buffett and other investment gurus, IPOs, secondary offerings, private equity, and more.

JON C. OGG