Leading gold producer, Goldcorp’s (GG) adjusted net profit in the third quarter of 2009 more than doubled to 19 cents from last year’s 9 cents on higher gold prices and lower cash costs per ounce of gold. Reported earnings were also higher than the Zacks Consensus estimate of 15 cents.  However, on a GAAP basis, net earnings dropped 62% to 16 cents from 42 cents in the previous year due to a foreign exchange loss of $28.1 million. Revenues were up 25% to $691.9 million from $552.2 million in the previous year driven by a 12% rise in average realized prices to $968 per ounce from $865 per ounce in the year-ago quarter and a 9% increase in gold sales volumes to 601,500 ounces.  Gold production increased by 11% year over year to 621,100 ounces compared with 557,400 ounces in 2008 following higher production at the Red ...

For Immediate Release

Chicago, IL – October 22, 2009 – Zacks.com releases the latest Zacks Industry Rank. Stocks featured in this week’s analysis include Barrick Gold (ABX), Eldorado (EGO), Goldcorp (GG), Freeport-McMoRan (FCX), Pan American Silver (PAAS), Market Vectors Gold Miners (GDX), S&P 500 SPDR (SPY) and Gold SPDR (GLD).

Zacks Industry Rank Analysis is written by Charles Rotblut, CFA, Senior Market Analyst for Zacks.com.

This week: Gold Miners’ Margin Problem

As gold sets new highs, it would only be natural to assume that profit forecasts for gold mining companies would be soaring too. Surprisingly, profit forecasts are not jumping.

Though some brokerage analysts have raised their full-year projections in recent weeks, the Zacks Consensus Estimate is not moving higher for most gold miners. Rather, it is essentially unchanged for Barrick Gold (ABX), Eldorado (EGO), Goldcorp (GG)

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Canada’s leading gold producer, Goldcorp Inc. (GG), recently announced that its Marlin mine in Guatemala has received certification under the International Cyanide Management Code for the use of cyanide for the production of gold. Marlin is Goldcorp's third gold mine to receive full certification. The Marigold mine in Nevada was the first gold mine in the world to be fully certified under the Cyanide Code, followed by El Sauzal mine, which was the first gold mine in Mexico to be fully certified. The Cyanide Code is a voluntary industry program for companies involved in the production of gold using cyanide, developed with the support of the United Nations Environment Program. This apart, Goldcorp is consistently acquiring shares in Osisko Mining Corporation, a junior gold mining company in Canada. According to the regulatory filing, Goldcorp has purchased 4.8% of Osisko Mining by buying about 8.5 million shares ...

When it comes to investment strategies, you’re looking for two key elements right off the bat: Simplicity and understandability.  After all, if you know what you’re doing, your chances of success are greatly heightened. And that’s especially true in the sometimes murky world of options.

For example, I often get questions from folks at seminars, asking why I don’t use strategies like butterfly spreads, condor spreads, or iron crosses.

Simple. They’re too complex!

There are many strategies that are much easier to execute than these and are proven to work time after time, so why confuse the issue?

Even if you’re an options aficionado, I believe in keeping it simple. Making a complex trade only defeats the purpose. Just because a trade is complex doesn’t necessarily mean you‘re going to get higher profits or greater win rate consistency.

Over the last couple of weeks I’ve addressed covered call selling, using deep-in-the-money (DITM) options - my

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Deep-In-The-Money Covered Calls: How to Lower Your Investment Costs & Your Risk

by Karim Rahemtulla, Advisory Panelist

Recently, I explained the nuts and bolts of covered call investing - a bullish strategy that focuses more on returns than it does on risk. In my column, I used the example of Yamana Gold (NYSE: AUY), showing you how to reduce your cost when buying stocks - and thereby increasing your upside potential if the shares move higher.

Today, we’re going to kick things up a notch and explain how you can cleverly take the same covered call strategy and add a twist, by using deep-in-the-money covered calls. When you do so, you can achieve more consistent returns over time, while also protecting your capital.

Simply put, I’m going to focus on mitigating risk…

Getting Deep-In-The-Money… An Unconventional Covered Call Strategy

With a conventional covered call strategy, you buy regular

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Last week, I explained the nuts and bolts of covered call investing - a bullish strategy that focuses more on returns than it does on risk.

In my column, I used the example of Yamana Gold (NYSE: AUY), showing you how to reduce your cost when buying stocks - and thereby increasing your upside potential if the shares move higher.

Today, we’re going to kick things up a notch and explain how you can cleverly take the same covered call strategy and add a twist, by using deep-in-the-money covered calls. When you do so, you can achieve more consistent returns over time, while also protecting your capital.

Simply put, I’m going to focus on mitigating risk…

Getting Deep-In-The-Money… Even When Your Stocks Fall

With a conventional covered call strategy, you buy regular shares of a stock and then sell a call option against them, whose strike price is higher than the current share price. Your aim

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Gold developed a slight upward trend late in Hong Kong and rode that trend mostly sideways through the end of the day to a marginal gain. The yellow metal closed at $925.30/oz., up $4.50. Overnight, gold is up sharply. 

Platinum’s graph looked quite similar to gold yesterday, as the precious metal developed what looked like the gentlest of trends in the black but managed to tack on quite a bit before all was said and done, ending the day at $1129/oz., up $16. Overnight, platinum is way up.

Silver rounded out what ended up being a solid but uneventful day for the precious metals by showing the same slight trend as gold and platinum, ending at $12.87/oz., up 4 cents. Overnight, silver is trending much higher. (Click here for charts)

Gold had kind of a blah day, but I’m sure investors don’t mind too much since it was still able to post

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One aspect of my work that I love is interviewing interesting people. On June 4th, 2009 I had the pleasure of speaking with David J. Christensen, the CEO of ASA Limited [ASA: 65.44, -1.94 (-2.88%)], a closed-end, non-diversified investment company registered with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission. The Company was organized in Bermuda and is the successor to a closed-end investment company of the same name organized in the Republic of South Africa in 1958.

The Company provides investors a vehicle to invest in a portfolio consisting primarily of the stocks of companies engaged in the exploration, mining or processing of gold, silver, platinum, diamonds or other precious minerals. It may also invest in gold, silver and platinum bullion or securities that seek to replicate the price movement of gold, silver or platinum bullion.

To coax you to read this article carefully, I’m going to reward

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Before you ask the inevitable question “Have you lost your mind?” let me reveal the “method of my madness”.  There are a growing number of people including some level-headed analysts who have publicly wondered whether it was possible that the private ownership of physical gold might be outlawed in the United States.  Many would say that the likelihood of that in the land of democracy and The Constitution is virtually zero. That is what I’d like to believe as well, especially if I were more “historically naive”.  But, history does tell us that the US government, in the days of a fixed gold price, did intervene in a very direct manner with President F.D. Roosevelt  banning the “hoarding of gold coin, gold bullion, and gold certificates” and thus forcing US citizens to sell to Federal Reserve at $20 an ounce.  Subsequently the Fed raised the price of gold to $35

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The Canadian Markets continued to surge like a runaway train during Monday trading. For the tale of the tape, the TSX Exchange added 2.21%, while the TSX Gold Index gave back 2.6% and the TSX Venture Exchange, Canada’s largest junior exploration bourse, rallied 1.46% with the decliners beating out the advancers by a 468 to 443 margin on a robust 259 million shares traded. Goldcorp is the latest major to go to the market looking to top up the till. The company announced a $750 million offering of convertible notes due 2014. The terms are yet to be reported. Goldcorp ended the day down C$2.20 at C$40.95.

Shares of Helio Resource added C$0.02 to close at C$0.52 after the junior announced two new gold zones on its Porcupine target in Tanzania. Highlights from the latest results included 72 metres running 0.6 gram gold per tonne.

Alamos Gold pulled a

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