First Majestic (FR.to) (AG): Welcome, New York!

IKN would like to take a moment to welcome the fine, upstanding investment community of New York City to the wonderfully wonderful world of junior silver mining. We hope you are enjoying your new-found experience via the December 15th listing of First Majestic under the ticker AG in your fine city and if you have any questions concerning the apparent volatility of the stock, feel free to phone investment advisors who live in the city that your Rangers whupped at hockey 7-0 last night.

Have a nice day.

The 'Small Silvers' 2010 sweepstakes September update

The end of the month is in and so we catch up on the performance of our basket of small silver stocks, as promised in the last update dated August 31. So here we go:

 It's safe to say that the silver stocks we follow had a very good September all told, but some are doing better than others. Top performance by quite some way now is from U.S. Silver (USA.v) with over 100% racked up this year and looking good for the 2010 full year prize now. We applaud this stock and all of those who were smart enough to buy some. 

First Majestic (FR.to) had a superb September and has moved smartly into second place (up 70% or so YTD) on the back of strong fundies results. Bear Creek (BCM.v) is in the bronze medal spot, up 60% approx. Then comes Fortuna Silver (FVI.to) up 40% YTD and then, surprisingly, the silver ETF (SLV) in 5th spot, which means there are still a whole bunch of these stocks that supposedly offer leverage to the metal that are lagging Ag. In the case of MAG Silver (MAG.to) in 6th the difference is tiny, but the four stocks underneath (EDR.to) (GPR.to) (ECU.to) (IPT.v) have far fewer excuses for their poor performances.

So, catch you all end of October for the next update in the race. Please be having nice day. Thank you.

First Majestic (FR.to) puts in a good quarter

Here's the link to the 2q10 financials and here's a little list:

• Revenues at $28.96m, up from the $18.22m in 1q10
• Net income $8.9m (the company passes Rule One*)
• 1.539m oz Ag produced (129k more than in 1q10)
• The positive changes mainly due to the new La Encantada plant that went commercial on the first day of the quarter. The circuit is running pretty well, apparently.
• Average realized price for silver, U$18.58/oz
• Total cash costs at U$8.20/oz
• EPS 10c/share
• That EPS implies a fwd PE of 10.5X approx...not a knockdown bargain, but reasonable
  

With 92.95m shares out and a close on Friday of $4.22, that puts market cap at $392.4m. And that's somewhere between fair and fairly cheap. I don't own FR.to but the company is likeable, both for the numbers released today and for the good way it treats its workforce, the locals around its plants and the environment (as mentioned previously on IKN). DYODD.

Chart of the day is.....

.....the Year To Date Small Silvers Sweepstakes (new new update)

We're into the last month, the home stretch and all that jazz, so we'll crank up the frequency of our superduper silver sweepstakes til the end of the year (the last update was here on Nov 23). Who's gonna be champeeeen?

(click to enlarge)

Endeavour Silver (EDR.to) is still out there as numero uno, but it's now getting pressured for the top spot by Bear Creek Mining (BCM.v) which has put on a great spurt in the last week or so. Fortuna (FVI.v) still looking solid in the bronze medal position.

Down amongst the also-rans, MAG Silver (MAG.to) (MVG) has made up quite a bit of ground in the last couple of weeks with a 30% upmove on good volumes. I have a sneaking suspicion that MAG may still beat out our benchmark, the silver bullion ETF (SLV), once December 31st comes around.

ECU Silver (ECU.to) = Half priced GATA membership next year.

The Year-To-Date Small Silvers Sweepstakes (new update)

It's been a couple of weeks since the last update, so let's see how things are developing.

(click to enlarge)

Endeavour Silver (EDR.to) has had the most magnificent month, moving up a full 100% (benchmarked to its Jan 1st price) so far this November. Top job, guys.

Personal fave Fortuna Silver (FVI.v) is now a firm second place, also having a good time this month. Great Panther (GPR.to) slips from 3rd to 4th and the ones below are basically in the same position as before. Wonderdog ECU Silver (ECU.to) is actually net negative for 2009 again...mindblowing on one level, but check the books and it's perfectly logical, really. Half price GATA next year looking evermore likely.

The Year-To-Date Small Silver Sweepstakes: Update

Here's the second installment, first was on October 23rd here.

click to enlarge

After we ran it last time, I was asked by a reader to add Bear Creek Mining (BCM.v) to the list cos said reader had done well on the stock this year. Yup can do, and BCM grabs 2nd place right off the bat. If there are any other suggestions for the next time we run this chart, just drop me a mail...happy to oblige (as long as the miner fits the category).

Leader for the prize is now Endeavour Silver (EDR.to) which has had a fine November so far. You go girl. GPR.to and FVI.v are up there battling hard. Coming up the rear (if you'll pardon the expression) is MAG Silver (MAG.to) and, of course, the dog of them all ECU Silver (ECU.to), though even that scam stock has managed to get into a YTD net positive situation thanks to the recent hysteria. It won't last.

Junior Silver Companies: Spot the dog

A short update on a sector followed quite closely at this humble corner of cyberspace.

Personally I have my issues with Great Panther (GPR.to) as its cash cost is high and it's recently been mining all the high grade ore to make its results sparkle. This tactic will deplete the grades going forward and goes against its own mining plan. But in the end, the market is judging it as being in-or-around the same as my idea of a great little miner, FVI.v (caveat, I own), so WTFDIK anyway?

First Majestic (FR.to) has issues, too, as resource ounces tend to be inferred or even just implied, even though most people say the concession around the machine is prospetive enough. However we might expect a bit of a pump soon, as the company are right now shipping a bunch of Peter Schiff/Europac people down on a site tour. It's not a done deal of course, but don't be surprised to hear warm and glowing things from that corner in the near future.

But it's clear that one silver "mining" company (used in loose terms, as it does very little actual mining and a lot of shareholder pocket mining) sits apart from the others. Ever feel like you backed the wrong horse. Wistar?

First Majestic Silver (FR.to): Avoid

On Wednesday evening, after the bell, First Majestic Silver Corp (FR.to) announced this $25m financing (10m shares at $2.50 a pop, half warrant at $3.50 attached). Ok, yeah well, another dilutive placement. But if you look at Wednesday's trading patterns it's clear that Da Boyz were once again screwing people over with insider information.

You know the last time FR.to traded 550k shares in a day? November 10th 2008. The most trade in a quarter as the stock sinks...hours before a nasty dilution that halted next morning 's trade and then saw it drop 22%? "Whatever makes you suspect insider dealing, Otto?" And hey wow! looky...

......silver actually went up on the same day. Yup, every reason to sell a silver miner.

Yesterday I mentioned I was mad about this and would write a long post explaining things. Well I've calmed back down to my normal cynicism in the last 24 hours and I decided not to write all I could write about FR.to and the brokerages. I don't thrive on bile and all this stuff about Stanford and everything has started to wear the anger-meter out too much. Suffice to say that this week is another good example of the cozy Canadian mining game, where everyone wins except well-meaning retail shareholders that try to be loyal to a stock.

The toothless and impotent OSC just turns a blind eye to this illegality. You're on you're own, I'm afraid, so in my personal opinion FR.to is another one for the list of easily avoidables. Don't buy it, don't sell it, don't short it. Just avoid it. Vote with your feet.