Energy Metals Corporation (TSX: EMC.TO) announced it would commence trading on the Toronto Stock Exchange on Thursday. EMC Chief Executive Paul Matysek's quote spelled it out, that because of this it would be possible for "… the Company to reach a broader base of individual investors, mutual funds and institutional investors." In other words, there would be less dependence upon the retail investor, and more reliance on the big funds to pile into EMC shares. Of course, the little guy will join the party as well.
Uranerz Energy (OTC BB: URNZ) issued a few telling news releases, which may explain the direction in which they are heading. On June 5th, the company announced a new Chief Financial Officer. URNZ also announced it had closed a financing, bumping up their cash to just under $12 million. URNZ Chief Executive Glenn Catchpole told us he hoped to launch his first In Situ Recovery operation for about, or less than, $10 million. This is a good sign. But, it was the next day's news release which confirmed the earlier news and reinforced where the company is going. The company announced the appointment of three independent directors to its Board. All three were appointed to the audit committee. Two are accountants with impressive track records; the third has an MBA from the University of Western Ontario, one of North America's top MBA schools. How do we interpret this news release? URNZ probably plans to move from the lowly over the counter bulletin board to a more senior exchange: Amex or NASDAQ Small Cap would be our guess.
What do you do about a company that hasn't been issuing a flurry of news releases? Take Strathmore Minerals (TSX: STM; Other OTC: STHJF) as an example. There are developments, but the news stream has been fairly quiet. Have they come to a standstill? No, quite the opposite is true.
We did what any investor should always do in the absence of major news. We picked up the phone and called their investor relations department. During a brief chat with Craig Christy, the company's spokesman, we asked about the company's cash situation. He responded, "We have about C$0.55/share in cash." Based on Thursday's closing price, that comes to more than 30 percent of what the market is valuing STM. That's UP from C$0.37/share earlier this year. STM has plenty of cash and is in excellent financial shape.
We looked through our copy of the Hargreave Hale Report, entitled, "Too Hot to Handle or Just Warming up?" This is a leading British financial institution, based in London. They are a major shareholder in STM, and they have been recommending STM shares. On page 32 of their document, we reviewed a great financial analysis of 33 Canadian and Australian uranium producers and development companies. The bar chart depicted the Uranium Enterprise Value (UREV) per Risk Adjusted pound of U3O8 Reserves and Resources of those thirty-three companies. A horizontal line crossed the chart, showing "fair value" of about US$4 million for each company's UREV per pound adjusted.
It was interesting to study how STM stacked up against many of the most popular uranium companies. Companies, such as Mega Uranium (TSX: MGA) rated at about US$28 million – about 700 percent ABOVE the Hargreave Hale "fair value" analysis. Crosshair Exploration and Mining traded about 500 percent of its fair value. UEX scored about twice above its fair value. Companies such as Uranium Resources, Western Prospector, Paladin Resources and UrAsia Energy scored at or very near their fair value. Strathmore Minerals had the lowest fair value rating – an absolute steal at about 30 percent of its fair value. About 16 companies traded above their fair value, some very much above the Hargreave Hale fair value analysis. It was enlightening to find Strathmore was in the company of producers such as ERA of Australia, IUC, Uranium One and Denison as an undervalued uranium company. In this case, it was the most undervalued of all 33 companies analyzed by the City of London financial institution.
We also found out that, a week ago, Strathmore Minerals president David Miller presented at the invitation-only Raymond James In-Situ Leach Uranium Mini-Conference in Toronto and Montreal on June 7th and 8th. You could visit the Raymond James website for the webcast of David Miller's presentation, but it has restricted access. Others presenting were Uranium Resources and Energy Metals. We were fortunate to review David Miller's PowerPoint presentation. One word describes Miller's presentation: Wow! It really did pack a punch. We heard Raymond James may be releasing these presentations to the public in the near future.
Sometimes, when there is a lack of news, one can learn to dig around and find a company can be doing quite well. In other instances, one can study the news releases and try piecing together where the company is heading. We hope this guidance helps you become a more sophisticated investor. We neither recommend stocks nor give buying and selling advice. As always, speculating on natural resource companies can be very risky and suitable only for certain investors. One should always check with their registered financial advisor about what is suitable or not for one's investment decisions.
James Finch contributes to StockInterview.com and other publications. Sign up now and get your free copy of our new book, "Investing in the Great Uranium Bull Market: A Practical Investor's Guide to Uranium Stocks." Just visit http://www.stockinterview.com for details.
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