IAMGOLD Corp (IAG)
IAMGOLD (catchy name!) is a Canada based company who operates mines in Canada, South America and Africa. In addition to gold, they also produce niobium and own a diamond royalty. It has a market capitalization of $6.49 billions.
IAG was up 13% in 2010, trailing most of the competition, but they are up 2% this year which is an exception in this industry.
Based on last year's results, IAG is trailing gold badly in relative performance. But the stock was extremely volatile throughout the year, matching gold at some points and correcting violently like in May for example.
The technical picture is in contrast to many of the other miners. I rank it a 5. The 50 day MA and 200 day MA are very close to each other and as of today, the price is above both MA. Many of the indicators are still (barely positive). And there is decent support around $16.
With a P/E over 79, IAG is the most expensive of all the miners (the ones with positive results that is). But with a forward P/E of 13.61 and a projected earning growth above 100% for the next 5 years, this could be justified. The company just reaffirmed guidance regarding its production for this year. There are 2 negatives as far as I can see - they have surprised on the negative side the last 2 quarters with big misses and their net margins is only 9%, trailing the industry average.
Ivanhoe Mines Ltd (IVN)
Ivanhoe Mines is a diverse mining operation - through various subsidiaries they mine gold and coal in Mongolia, various minerals (including gold, copper and uranium) in Australia and they also partners in mining projects in Kazakhstan. It has a market capitalization of $13.49 billion.
This is one company I have trouble understanding - they don't make any money, earning projections are negative and yet, they went up 55% in 2010 and they are already up close to 15% in 2011. By far, the best performance. This performance is most likely tied to expectation for their Mongolia operations. Operations there have been delayed by negotiations with the local government but their Oyu Tolgoi field is supposed to be the biggest untapped copper-gold source in the world.
With such numbers, IVN is ahead of gold in relative performance. A big run in September put them ahead for good.
The technical picture is the best of them all - I rank it a 7. All signs point to higher prices. The stock was up 1.8% today (1/18/2011).
Most of the fundamentals numbers will not be very meaningful with IVN. Their current P/E is -28.82. Their forward P/E is -123.52. They are losing money left and right and there is no valid projections for earning growth. This is, as far as I can tell, a "leap of faith" investment, hoping that their operations in Mongolia (which they own with Rio Tinto) will pay out big. Investors are definitely betting that way!
Jaguar Mining Inc (JAG)
Jaguar operates gold mines in Brazil. This is the smallest company in this comparison with a market capitalization of only $549 millions.
Jaguar had a disastrous year in 2010, losing 38%. It is also down 4% for 2011. Clearly the black sheep of the industry.
Clearly, with these numbers, Jaguar did not track gold at all throughout the last 12 months. In relative performance, it is now some 70% behind!
The technical picture is accordingly bad. I rank it a 2. The long term indicator (grey line in bottom graph) is in "super" down trend. The stock is below all the MA (15, 50 and 200) and seems to be locked in a channel between $6 and $7.50. Overall, not a promising picture!
The -11.64 P/E is of course not telling. But even the forward P/E of 17.62 is above average. There is no reliable earning growth projections and net profit margins are currently negative so difficult to render a good judgement at this moment. In addition, Jaguar has a bad history of earning surprises. On the other hand, as a small cap, there is the potential of the company being acquired.
Kinross Gold Corp (KGC)
Kinross operates gold mines in the USA, Brazil, Chile, Ecuador and Russia. It also mines silver. It has a market capitalization of $19.11 billions.
KGC was up only about 3% last year and is already down 11% this year. Clearly not the best of investment!
Obviously KGC is trailing gold badly for the last 12 months! And they also mine silver which is up more than gold over the same period.
The technical picture for KGC is pretty disastrous. All the indicators are negative, the price is under all the MA (15, 50 and 200). The price is below week support at $17. Next line of support is at $15. I rank it a 2. Not very encouraging.
The current P/E of 15 is below average for the industry, but the forward P/E of 20.74 is above average and doesn't bode well for future price appreciation. Projection for earnings growth for the next 5 years is only 10% but net profit margins are some of the highest in the industry.
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