Stillwater Mining Company (SWC) Earnings: An Early Look

Yet last week, that trend reversed, as platinum and palladium fell sharply along with gold and silver in response to concerns that the Federal Reserve may cut back on their accommodative policies sooner than investors had hoped. In general, the low-rate environment has been great for metals investors, as it has reduced the opportunity cost of having money locked up in bullion, supporting the prices that Stillwater gets on the open market. Although Stillwater held up better than Canadian rival North American Palladium Ltd (USA) (NYSEMKT:PAL), which plunged 23% as it digested the news, its own 8% drop reflects the nervousness in the metals community about future Fed policy.

In Stillwater’s report, be sure to focus on what management says about the miner’s strategy with its Altar copper and gold mine. With North American Palladium seeking to divest itself of its Vezza gold operations to become a pure-play platinum-group metal producer, Stillwater’s acquisition of the Altar mine aroused substantial discontent. Altar needs to pay off in order to justify Stillwater’s decision and keep activist investors at bay, and any news to the contrary in the report could send shares stumbling.

The article Stillwater Mining Earnings: An Early Look originally appeared on Fool.com and is written by Dan Caplinger.

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