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

Editor's Note: TheStreet ratings do not represent the views of TheStreet's staff or its contributors. Ratings are established by computer based on metrics for performance (which includes growth, stock performance, efficiency and valuation) and risk (volatility and solvency). Companies with poor cash flow or high debt levels tend to earn lower ratings in our model.

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 down 0.5%. By the end of trading, Royal Gold fell $3.23 (-3.9%) to $80.76 on heavy volume. Throughout the day, 2.4 million shares of Royal Gold exchanged hands as compared to its average daily volume of 951,600 shares. The stock ranged in price between $80.57-$84.25 after having opened the day at $83.81 as compared to the previous trading day's close of $83.99. Other companies within the Metals & Mining industry that declined today were: Richmont Mines (RIC), down 25.1%, Pacific Booker Minerals (PBM), down 19.6%, USEC (USU), down 14%, and Sutor Technology Group (SUTR), down 9%.

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Royal Gold, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, engages in the acquisition and management of precious metals royalties and similar production based interests. Royal Gold has a market cap of $5.33 billion and is part of the basic materials sector. The company has a P/E ratio of 51.1, above the S&P 500 P/E ratio of 17.7. Shares are up 24.6% year to date as of the close of trading on Thursday. 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, expanding profit margins, increase in net income and growth in earnings per share. We feel these strengths outweigh the fact that the company has had somewhat disappointing return on equity.

• You can view the full Royal Ratings Report.

On the positive front, Ossen Innovation (OSN), up 19.5%, Prospect Global Resources (PGRX), up 12%, Walter Energy (WLT), up 5.8%, and China Precision Steel (CPSL), up 5.5%, were all gainers within the metals & mining industry with Alpha Natural Resources (ANR) being today's featured metals & mining industry leader.

• Use our metals & mining section to find industry-relevant news.
• Or find some new ideas from our top rated stocks lists.

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.

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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