Royal Gold Inc. (RGLD): Today's Featured Metals & Mining Laggard

Royal Gold (RGLD) pushed the Metals & Mining industry lower today making it today's featured Metals & Mining laggard. The industry as a whole closed the day up 1.8%. By the end of trading, Royal Gold fell $2.01 (-2.5%) to $76.78 on average volume. Throughout the day, 892,797 shares of Royal Gold exchanged hands as compared to its average daily volume of 1.1 million shares. The stock ranged in price between $76.05-$78.01 after having opened the day at $77.36 as compared to the previous trading day's close of $78.79. Other companies within the Metals & Mining industry that declined today were: Alexco Resource (AXU), down 6.6%, Metals USA Holdings (MUSA), down 5.3%, China Gengsheng Minerals (CHGS), down 4.8%, and Jaguar Mining (JAG), down 4.6%.

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Royal Gold, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, engages in the acquisition and management of precious metal royalties. It owns royalty interests in various producing, development, evaluation, and exploration stage projects that explore for gold, silver, copper, lead, and zinc metals. Royal Gold has a market cap of $4.66 billion and is part of the basic materials sector. The company has a P/E ratio of 48, equal to the average metals & mining industry P/E ratio and above the S&P 500 P/E ratio of 17.7. Shares are up 17.5% year to date as of the close of trading on Wednesday. Currently there is one analyst that rates Royal Gold a buy, no analysts rate it a sell, and four rate it a hold.

TheStreet Ratings rates Royal Gold as a buy. The company's strengths can be seen in multiple areas, such as its robust revenue growth, largely solid financial position with reasonable debt levels by most measures, impressive record of earnings per share growth, compelling growth in net income and expanding profit margins. We feel these strengths outweigh the fact that the company is trading at a premium valuation based on our review of its current price compared to such things as earnings and book value.

• You can view the full Royal Ratings Report.

On the positive front, USEC (USU), up 21.3%, Alpha Natural Resources (ANR), up 15.1%, James River Coal Company (JRCC), up 13%, and Augusta Resource Corporation (AZC), up 10.9%, were all gainers within the metals & mining industry with Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold (FCX) being today's featured metals & mining industry leader.

• Use our metals & mining section to find industry-relevant news.
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For investors not wanting singular stock exposure, ETFs may be of interest. Investors who are bullish on the metals & mining industry could consider SPDR S&P Metals & Mining ETF (XME) while those bearish on the metals & mining industry could consider PowerShares DB Base Metals Sht ETN (BOS).

• Find other investment ideas from our top rated ETFs lists.

For more information on Royal Gold Inc. click any of the following:

• Royal Gold Inc. Stock Price

• Royal Gold Inc. Analyst Ratings

• Royal Gold Inc. Key Stats & Profile

• Royal Gold Inc. Earnings

• Royal Gold Inc. Ratio Comparison

• Royal Gold Inc. Growth Rates

• Royal Gold Inc. Balance Sheet

• Royal Gold Inc. Cash Flow

• Royal Gold Inc. Income Statement