Monday, March 10, 2008

Lundin Mining LUN.to LMC "'s calling..."

"Lundin's calling
Despite the runup in prices of various base metals, Lundin Mining's stock has been stuck in park. Then, when it told investors last month that analysts were being way too optimistic about its production levels, the stock price collapsed. Where other miners like BHP Billiton (NYSE: BHP) and Teck Cominco are up 20% to 60%, Lundin's shares sit more than 20% below where they were last March.
There could be reasons to hope for Lundin's future performance. Although zinc prices were soft in the fourth quarter and squeezed Lundin's profit margins, they've jumped 11% in the last week alone. Nickel's up even more at 17%. Yet investors might still want to be cautious. With commodities driven by demand, and a slowdown in the U.S. deepening, metal prices may very well sag again.
More than 700 investors have weighed in on the metals company, and less than a dozen think it's a canary in a coal mine. As many as 98% believe it will outperform the market. Top-rated CAPS All-Star UncommonSense, with a 93.96 player rating, viewed Lundin almost a month ago as not only a valuable long-term play in its own right, but thought its current depressed prices make it an outstanding acquisition target:
Lundin Mining ... mines copper, zinc, lead, and silver. They operate 5 mines, 4 of which regularly increase production levels every quarter (and usually by double digits yoy). Copper prices are firming up. ... They just finalized a deal to buy a major copper mine in the Democratic Republic of Congo and they are in the process of developing a major surface mine in Russia. ... They have virtually no debt and ample room to expand in coming years as commodity prices continue to rapidly outpace inflation. ... Even if LMC is not taken over by an ambitious private equity group or a hungry metal conglomerate, its own individual growth prospects seem to shine.
CAPS investor MUGNUS agreed, writing in late January that growth prospects based on demand for what Lundin is pulling out of the ground suggests up is the only way for the stock to go:
Global buildout should prop this company up along with continued use of metals in more and more 'stuff.' Mines are in shorter and shorter order and the demand for the metals continues to rise annually. "

http://www.fool.com/investing/high-growth/2008/03/10/tomorrows-monster-stocks.aspx

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