Little-Known Companies With Lots of 'Precious Assets'

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Investors are as nervous as my three cats when their food bowl starts looking empty.

One recent front-page article in the Wall Street Journal opined, "Despite Gains, Many Flee Stock Market." The article tells us that investor disillusionment is widespread and the "percentage of American families who say they own stocks or stock funds slumped to 46% in 2011 from 53% in 2001."

The article also reminds us that since the stock market lows of March 2009, "...[I]nvestors have yanked a net $138 billion from mutual funds and exchange-traded funds that invest in U.S. stocks..." This helps explains why for the first time since 1981, investors have withdrawn money from U.S. stock funds for more than a year at a time.

Adding to the angst about stocks is the current banter about the upcoming earnings seasons possibly being the worst quarter since 2009. We'll learn more after Alcoa (AA) and Yum Brands (YUM) step into the earnings confessional.

So I want to shout out to all disaffected stock investors and remind them that 1981 was a great year to begin investing in quality stocks, as was March 2009. If you're buying quality, well-run, profitable companies that have almost a monopoly in what they're doing to make money, you should in time do just fine. If those companies are just beginning to receive notoriety and attention, even better!

One such company is a Canadian resource specialist that focuses on what the world needs more of...besides love.

Sprott Resources (SCPZF) is a small-cap stock that has plenty of upside potential.

From its interesting and descriptive Web site we learn the following:

Sprott Resource Corp. invests and operates through its subsidiaries in the natural resource sector. We currently have investments and operations in oil and gas, agriculture and agricultural nutrients as well as a large position in physical gold bullion. We take an active involvement in the companies in which we invest.

We are dedicated to generating consistently superior returns on capital for our shareholders, while focusing on risk management and real wealth preservation. We seek to accomplish these objectives by acquiring or starting attractive businesses at the right time, growing the value organically or through accretive acquisitions and by maintaining financial flexibility to be responsive to the needs of our businesses and to capitalize on new opportunities.

One of those "attractive businesses" is One Earth Farms, which has become the largest corporate farming operation in Canada. There is also a cooperative partnership between the private sector and the indigenous people of First Nations.

Sprott Resources is the controlling shareholder of One Earth Farms, and when you own shares of SPCFZ it's like investing alongside a billionaire visionary like Eric Sprott, about whom I wrote an article in June.

It's very important to do your own due diligence before investing in any small-cap company. With Sprott Resources you're getting the experience of its renowned founders and top-rate management. They're steering the company towards creating wealth by providing sustainable food production, energy and, in my opinion, the accumulation of the most important "currency" of the 21st century, gold.

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