Here Are the Top 15 'Un-Earth Day' Stocks

The low-cost leader in the U.S. is Peabody Energy(BTU Quote), and it's also considered the best managed, with highly profitable operations in Australia that feed China directly.

But smaller miners Westmoreland Coal(WLB Quote), Arch Coal(ACI Quote) and Foundation Coal(FCL Quote) are also good choices, as is the Canadian trust Fording(FDG Quote), which pays a juicy 9% dividend to boot.

More diversified miners with major coal subsidiaries that I can strongly recommend are BHP Billiton(BHP Quote) of Australia and Teck Cominco(TCK Quote) of Canada. Pick one or two from the first group and one overseas, and you're covered.

Grab a Shovel

Coal can't be dug out of the earth without a lot of big equipment, so in our Unearth Day portfolio we just have to have some major earthmoving machinery makers. The two most important U.S. supershovel makers are Joy Global(JOYG Quote), which sports a $5 billion market capitalization, and Bucyrus International(BUCY Quote), which is a fifth the size at $1 billion.

They are both cheap, face expanding market opportunities overseas in China and Russia -- where equipment is hopelessly outdated and in need of updating -- and are run by experienced managers in Milwaukee. Buy either with a goal of at least a 20% profit over the next year.

For a foreign accent on the same idea, consider Finnish mining-equipment maker Metso Oyj(MX Quote), which I first recommended a year ago. It's up 50% since, but with earnings growing and global growth prospect intact, its valuation supports at least another 50% move higher.