When fear and volatility rear their ugly heads, investors will traditionally turn to more conservative investments — such as gold. Presumably, this is what happened during the bitterly fought presidential campaign. In 2016, the price of gold, which ended the year up about 8%, had climbed as much as 28% at one point.
Similarly, many gold stocks enjoyed quite the ride last year — rides that have extended into the new year, leaving some companies trading at seriously low prices. Of course, this doesn’t mean these companies are worthy of investment. So let’s grab our pickaxes and see what we can uncover.
Image source: Getty Images.
Minding the miners
When considering gold-mining companies’ stocks, it’s important to recognize that the traditional price-to-earnings ratio doesn’t have as much merit. Because of non-cash charges — like depreciation — it’s not uncommon for companies to take large writedowns on their assets, resulting in skewed earnings figures. Yamana Gold, for example,recorded non-cash impairment charges of $2.6 billion.In the company’s annual report, management acknowledged that “the largest contributor to the impairment was the writedown of values relating to exploration landand potential ounces.”
Best Low Price Stocks To Buy For 2018: Electronics for Imaging Inc.(EFII)
Advisors’ Opinion:
- [By Lisa Levin]
Electronics For Imaging, Inc. (NASDAQ: EFII) shares dropped 43 percent to $26.96. Electronics For Imaging disclosed that it has postponed Q2 release due to accounting issues related to revenue recognition. Morgan Stanley downgraded Electronics for Imaging from Equal-Weight to Underweight.
Best Low Price Stocks To Buy For 2018: Energy Transfer Equity, L.P.(ETE)
Advisors’ Opinion:
- [By Charles Sizemore]
Charles Sizemore is a prolific financial writer, longtime prizedInvestorPlace contributor, and chief investment officer of Sizemore Capital Management. He’s also a two-time winner of our Best Stockscompetition, so he knows how to pick ‘em.
Never one to choose a straightforward company, Charles went withEnergy Transfer Equity (ETE) for the Best Stocks for 2016 contest. ETE is a complicated beast, a master limited partnership that’s made up of six other energy companies.
Perhaps the simplest way to think of ETE is as a company with diversified exposure to energy pipelines, which essentially collect tolls as their corporate users send oil and natural gas all across the country.
Energy Transfer is thick on the income front, with a dividend yield sitting at 8.7% currently.
Best Low Price Stocks To Buy For 2018: Celadon Group, Inc.(CGI)
Advisors’ Opinion:
- [By Lisa Levin]
Thursday afternoon, the industrial sector proved to be a source of strength for the market. Leading the sector was strength from Titan Machinery Inc. (NASDAQ: TITN) and Celadon Group, Inc. (NYSE: CGI).
Best Low Price Stocks To Buy For 2018: MFRI Inc.(MFRI)
Advisors’ Opinion:
- [By Jim Robertson]
On Wednesday, our Under the Radar Moversnewsletter suggestedsmall cap piping systems stock MFRI, Inc (NASDAQ: MFRI) as a short-term long/bullish trade:
Best Low Price Stocks To Buy For 2018: United Parcel Service Inc.(UPS)
Advisors’ Opinion:
- [By Demitrios Kalogeropoulos]
Meanwhile, earnings season produced large price swings in a few stocks individual stocks, including Under Armour (NYSE:UA) (NYSE:UAA) and UPS (NYSE:UPS).
- [By Craig Jones]
On CNBC's "Fast Money Halftime Report", Pete Najarian spoke about unusually high options activity in United Parcel Service, Inc. (NYSE: UPS). He said that options traders are buying the January 2020, 140 strike calls. Around 20,000 call options were traded in the first half of the session and traders were paying $3.20 for them. The trade breaks even at $143.20 or 21.12 percent above the current market price. Pete Najarian owns shares of UPS and he thinks the stock is going much higher.
- [By Todd Shriber, ETF Professor]
“The fourth quarter may be the index’s best opportunity to turn around its anemic 2017,” said Direxion. “Over the past five years, the index’s Q4 performance averaged over 7 percent growth and only ended the quarter down once in that span; in 2015. Delivery companies like FedEx Corp. (NYSE: FDX) and United Parcel Service Inc. (NYSE: UPS) typically drive the Index around the end of the year.”
- [By Todd Campbell, Demitrios Kalogeropoulos, and Reuben Gregg Brewer]
In the case of these three stocks, however, it may be worth taking a gamble. Our contributors think catalysts at Regeneron Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:REGN), Royal Dutch Shell (NYSE:RDS-B), and United Parcel Service (NYSE:UPS) can get them back to their winning ways. Read on to find out if these down-and-out stocks are right for your portfolio.