From time to time I like to check on how the metal stocks are doing. With all the volatility in the markets it’s good to keep an eye on your investments. I make constant changes to my portfolio rather than buy and hold. These stocks can have many changes in the underlying company in a very short period of time.
There can be laws, regulations, restrictions, and taxes imposed upon these miners which can drastically affect the value. In some areas like South Africa there can be strikes, electric power problems, as well as mines being drilled deeper and deeper which costs more to operate and become more dangerous to mine. There can even be managerial changes that affect the price of the stock.
Here are some of my favorite stocks in my order of preference.
Silver- This Yahoo chart shows stock performance year to date.
AG-First Majestic Silver Corp.
EXK-Endeavour Silver Corp.
SVM-Silver Metals Inc.
SLW-Silver Wheaton Corp.
[hat tip to Yahoo Finance for the above graphic]
As you can see some stocks got hit harder than others. The trick is to know when to jump back in and which ones will recover the fastest. With a good stock, I like to think it will bounce back strong and I like to buy on the big drops, as long as the drop was not due to any problems with the company. I also tend to like smaller companies over the big guys. Looking at the chart above, I would probably be inclined to take a shot at EXK (which I did yesterday 3/6/12) because there were no known reasons for it to drop more than the others, it is a smaller cap stock and therefore can be more volatile, and it lost 5% more than the others meaning a bigger dip to buy.
Gold-Year To Date Yahoo Chart
NGD-New Gold
AUY-Yamana Gold
EGO-Elderado Gold
NG-Nova Gold Resources Inc.
[hat tip to Yahoo Finance for the above graphic]
At the moment I would only own AUY and NGD. AUY because it has been performing very well and NGD because it is in a nice dip with a great expectation of roaring back. KGC-Kinross Gold Corp. and NAK-Northern Dynasty Minerals Ltd. are not buys at the moment in my opinion, but stocks to keep your eye on. One other long shot I watch is JAG, Jaguar Mining Inc.
I like silver stocks more than gold stocks at the moment. Usually silver is more volatile and you need to keep an eye on it. However, you can see from the chart below that silver has been mimicking gold recently.
Written by Goldfinger