Shares of molybdenum miner Thompson Creek Metals
The drop in stock price seemed to come from the stampede of analysts downgrading Thompson as it received lower ratings from Credit Suisse, Dahlman Rose, and Deutsche Bank. The first two said the moly miner was now a hold, while Deutsche Bank downgraded it to a sell, primarily because of increased capital expenditures to $355 million, or 25% of its market cap. Deutsche Bank issued a $7.50 price target, which Thompson currently trades under.
Still a value?
With a P/E of just 4.4 and two mines set to come on line in the next two years, Thompson looks like a value play to some, especially after Tuesday's beating. The company expects to complete the expansion of its Endako mine by the end of the first quarter of 2012, which should add production capacity of 15 million to 16 million pounds of molybdenum annually. In 2011, the namesake mine produced just 21.4 million pounds of molybdenum.
But the real prize for investors is the Mt. Milligan copper and gold mine, which it acquired from Terrane Metals in 2010; it's expected to begin producing toward the end of 2013. Thompson Creek expects Mt. Milligan to produce 81 million pounds of copper and 194,000 ounces of gold per year. CEO Kevin Loughrey estimates a potential $450 million in annual profit from Mt. Milligan, as fellow Fool Christopher Barker describes here. By comparison, Freeport-McMoRan
Loughrey also sees increasing molybdenum prices in 2012 and 2013, as the economy picks up. This trend figures to help fellow miners like General Moly
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