Precious Metals Stocks Hit New 52-Week Lows: A Price Chart Analysis

A quick look at the “new 52-week lows” list this week shows a surprising number of gold and silver stocks. Well, maybe not all that surprising considering how much the underlying metals have dropped in price. Gold traded briefly at below 1700, down from a June high of 1900. Silver hit 23, down from 30 in February.

New York Stock Exchange-traded precious metals mining companies that took out or hit 52-week lows include Compania de Minas Buenaventura, Couer Mining, Harmony Gold Mining and Pan American Silver, among others. Are these now values in the sector or is there more droppage to come?

Let’s look at the price charts.

First, the SPDR Gold Shares exchange traded fund that tracks the price of the yellow metal:

The price of gold peaked last summer up there at above 1900 as indicated by this ETF chart. It dropped to a low of below 1500 by March of this year. Since then, this market rallied into early summer and sold off again to almost re-test the 1500 lows. Known to many as an “inflation hedge,” gold right now seems to be indicating less concern about inflation.

The weekly price chart for silver looks like this:

That’s a spectacular upward move from the March, 2020 pandemic low near 11 all the way up to the “short squeeze” high of 29 by February, 2021. Silver’s back to just under 22 now — a higher level, so far, than the year ago August low.

Here are a few of the stocks in the sector that have dropped further and deeper than you might have expected:

Compania de Minas Buenaventura is lower here than it was last August. You can see how the big move off of the March, 2020 level failed to take the stock to higher highs than the 2019 peaks. So, the price of this miner is negatively diverging from the price of the underlying metal, gold.

The February, 2021 short squeeze on silver shows up clearly on the Couer Mining weekly price chart. From that peak of 12.50, the stock has fallen all the way back down to 6.50 before bouncing slightly. That’s the low of last August, so the miner is re-visiting that previous 52-week low.

Harmony Gold Mining at 3.57 is back below the price of last August. This new 52-week low comes after the stock blasted up to about 7.50 before running out of steam last summer. Now trading at book value with a p/e of less than 10, it’s likely to begin showing up on the screens of value investors.

The NYSE-listed mining company Pan American Silver hit a brand new 52-week low this week at 26.51 after peaking out in June, 2020 at about 40. Despite the recent selling, those investors who purchased the stock at the March, 2020 low of 12 remain in decent shape with better than a double in price.

Not investment advice. Do your own research and always consult with a registered investment advisor before making any decisions.