3 Stocks Dragging The Metals & Mining Industry Downward

All three major indices are trading up today with the Dow Jones Industrial Average ( ^DJI) trading up 41 points (0.2%) at 17,692 as of Thursday, May 5, 2016, 12:55 PM ET. The NYSE advances/declines ratio sits at 1,523 issues advancing vs. 1,363 declining with 169 unchanged. The Metals & Mining industry currently sits up 0.2% versus the S&P 500, which is up 0.2%. On the negative front, top decliners within the industry include POSCO ( PKX), down 1.2%, and Southern Copper ( SCCO), down 0.8%. TheStreet would like to highlight 3 stocks pushing the industry lower today: 3. Vale ( VALE) is one of the companies pushing the Metals & Mining industry lower today. As of noon trading, Vale is down $0.26 (-5.3%) to $4.60 on average volume. Thus far, 22.5 million shares of Vale exchanged hands as compared to its average daily volume of 37.0 million shares. The stock has ranged in price between $4.57-$5.03 after having opened the day at $4.98 as compared to the previous trading day's close of $4.86. EXCLUSIVE OFFER: See inside Jim Cramer's multi-million dollar charitable trust portfolio to see the stocks he thinks could be potential winners. Click here to see his holdings for 14-days FREE. Vale S.A., together with its subsidiaries, engages in the research, production, and sale of iron ore and pellets, gold, silver, and cobalt, as well as raw materials for steelmaking in Brazil and internationally. Vale has a market cap of $26.8 billion and is part of the basic materials sector. Shares are up 47.7% year-to-date as of the close of trading on Wednesday. Currently there are 3 analysts that rate Vale a buy, 3 analysts rate it a sell, and 6 rate it a hold. TheStreet Ratings rates Vale as a sell. The company's weaknesses can be seen in multiple areas, such as its deteriorating net income, disappointing return on equity, generally high debt management risk, generally disappointing historical performance in the stock itself and feeble growth in its earnings per share. Get the full Vale Ratings Report now. EXCLUSIVE OFFER: See inside Jim Cramer's multi-million dollar charitable trust portfolio to see the stocks he thinks could be potential winners. Click here to see his holdings for 14-days FREE. 2. As of noon trading, Alcoa ( AA) is down $0.22 (-2.1%) to $10.02 on average volume. Thus far, 12.4 million shares of Alcoa exchanged hands as compared to its average daily volume of 29.3 million shares. The stock has ranged in price between $10.02-$10.38 after having opened the day at $10.32 as compared to the previous trading day's close of $10.24. EXCLUSIVE OFFER: See inside Jim Cramer's multi-million dollar charitable trust portfolio to see the stocks he thinks could be potential winners. Click here to see his holdings for 14-days FREE. Alcoa Inc. engages in engineering and manufacturing lightweight metals worldwide. The company operates through five segments: Alumina, Primary Metals, Global Rolled Products, Engineered Products and Solutions, and Transport and Construction Solutions. Alcoa has a market cap of $13.6 billion and is part of the basic materials sector. Shares are up 3.8% year-to-date as of the close of trading on Wednesday. Currently there are 6 analysts that rate Alcoa a buy, 1 analyst rates it a sell, and 5 rate it a hold. TheStreet Ratings rates Alcoa as a hold. Among the primary strengths of the company is its solid financial position based on a variety of debt and liquidity measures that we have evaluated. At the same time, however, we also find weaknesses including poor profit margins, weak operating cash flow and a generally disappointing performance in the stock itself. Get the full Alcoa Ratings Report now. EXCLUSIVE OFFER: See inside Jim Cramer's multi-million dollar charitable trust portfolio to see the stocks he thinks could be potential winners. Click here to see his holdings for 14-days FREE. 1. As of noon trading, Freeport-McMoRan ( FCX) is down $0.44 (-3.8%) to $11.36 on average volume. Thus far, 23.1 million shares of Freeport-McMoRan exchanged hands as compared to its average daily volume of 52.2 million shares. The stock has ranged in price between $11.35-$12.22 after having opened the day at $12.09 as compared to the previous trading day's close of $11.80. EXCLUSIVE OFFER: See inside Jim Cramer's multi-million dollar charitable trust portfolio to see the stocks he thinks could be potential winners. Click here to see his holdings for 14-days FREE. Freeport-McMoRan Inc., a natural resource company, acquires, explores, and develops mineral assets, and oil and natural gas resources. The company explores for copper, gold, molybdenum, cobalt hydroxide, silver, and other metals, as well as oil and gas. Freeport-McMoRan has a market cap of $15.0 billion and is part of the basic materials sector. Shares are up 74.3% year-to-date as of the close of trading on Wednesday. Currently there are 2 analysts that rate Freeport-McMoRan a buy, 1 analyst rates it a sell, and 12 rate it a hold. TheStreet Ratings rates Freeport-McMoRan as a sell. The company's weaknesses can be seen in multiple areas, such as its generally high debt management risk, disappointing return on equity, generally disappointing historical performance in the stock itself and feeble growth in its earnings per share. Get the full Freeport-McMoRan Ratings Report now. EXCLUSIVE OFFER: See inside Jim Cramer's multi-million dollar charitable trust portfolio to see the stocks he thinks could be potential winners. Click here to see his holdings for 14-days FREE. If you are interested in one of these 3 stocks, 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).