Metals and Mining: Winners and Losers

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Royal Gold (RGLD), Solitario Exploration & Royalty (XPL) and Carpenter Technology (CRS) rallied higher last week; IAMGOLD (IAG), Mines Management (MGN) and Cloud Peak Energy (CLD) showed weakness.

Royal Gold led the pack of gainers, rising 12.6% as gold prices hit a record $1,500 per ounce. Solitario Exploration & Royalty followed, accumulating 9.5%. Furthermore, Carpenter Technology rose 9.4% after the World Steel Association said that global steel consumption would hit a record 1.441 billion tonnes in 2012, driven by overall global economic recovery.

Specialty metals producer Allegheny Technologies (ATI) gained 8.5%, while Teck Resources (TCK) added 7.9% during the past week. Teck's adjusted quarterly profit more than doubled year-over-year to $450 million or 76 cents per share from $198 million or 34 cents per share reported in the first quarter of 2010. The company also plans to invest $399 million in its metallurgical coal business this year, in an effort to ramp up production to 26 million tonnes in 2012.

Coal stocks Westmoreland Coal (WLB), Alpha Natural Resources (ANR) and Patriot Coal (PCX) were up 8.3%, 6.8% and 6.4%, respectively, at close last week. Westmoreland moved its stock to the Nasdaq Global Market from the American Stock Exchange last week, to improve the stock's visibility. Patriot Coal, on the other hand, reported record revenue and EBITDA of $577 million and $48.6 million for the first quarter of 2011, respectively. Additionally, the company reaffirmed its 2011 sales guidance of 30-32 million tonnes, including 8-8.4 million tonnes of metallurgical coal.

Another coal producer, Massey Energy (MEE), was up 6% during the past week. Among miners, Horsehead Holding (ZINC) and Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold (FCX) gained 5.6% each. Freeport McMoRan reported first quarter earnings of $1.57 per share, beating the consensus estimate of $1.26 per share. Furthermore, revenue increased 30% year-over-year to $5.7 billion. The company has also raised its sales guidance for 2011 to about 3.9 billion pounds of copper, 1.6 million ounces of gold and 73 million pounds of molybdenum from the earlier 3.85 billion pounds of copper, 1.4 million ounces of gold and 70 million pounds of molybdenum.

Other movers include Alexco Resource (AXU), Barrick Gold (ABX), AK Steel (AKS) and Agnico-Eagle Mines (AEM), up 5.4%, 4.1%, 4.1% and 4.1%, respectively.

IAMGOLD (IAG) declined 6.4%, while Mines Management (MGN) slipped 5.6%.

Other stocks that finished the week in the red include Cloud Peak Energy (CLD), Metalline Mining (MMG), MAG Silver (MVG) and Kinross Gold (KGC), erasing 2%-3%.