ALOHA !!

Bill,

What exactly does a company have to do or say or pay to get on this Merrill Lynch list? While I own some of those companies listed I also own some that I would add to that list like ECU Silver and Etruscan plus some more riskier low priced stocks.

For instance at Morgan Stanley they won't even research a company unless its share price is above $3.00, plus average volume minimums. At least that is what my broker told me in 2001. That kind of criteria leaves out Aurelian types until it has lifted off into the stratasphere. Where were the buy recommendations under $3.00? Any brokerages do that?

What is the criteria for Merrill?

I agree Agnico-Eagle is a good company ... I wonder when Barrick will buy them? Perhaps Merrill Lynch has hired Peter Monk(ex-CEO of Barrick)to put together a "shopping list" for future Barrick purchases!

Silver stocks are up 880% to gold's 321%* - from 10/27/00 to date.

Central Banks don't hold silver, so they can't restrain the price. Industrial demand seems growing, despite photography.

So, why can't silver get any respect in the ML report, and in general?

Isn't SLW by far the best bet of all the PM's, since the GG acquisition of GLG looks to go ahead and supply SLW lots of ounces?

What am I missing?

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*these figures are Media General's sub-industry groups via TC-2007. They are weighted by square root of market cap, so the big boys don't dominate.

Jock
I don't think you are missing a thing. I also own PAAS which has recently outperformed SLW. I am now looking at HL.
I think the fundamentals for silver are far more attractive than gold, but... gold is....gold.
Got any off the radar speculation ideas in this space?

Rigdon, and others -

I liked the article on SLW's unique biz model by Bill and by Jim Damberger referenced somewhere on this site: buying ore off of non-silver producers rather than operating their own mines; then their deal with GG for silver from GLG's Mexico mines.

I also liked one of the reader's comments on this blog about the SLW warrants, SLWBF, which gives leveraged exposure to SLW's stock price. Just bid on some of those.

Also, Bill posted a study on Silver by a brokerage which recommended SSIR, PAAS, and SLW.

Also significant that there are under 10 publicly traded silver companies, and MANY more gold cos.

Among the golds, I like KRY. I think they will get their permit and become a 5x. No way to know when, but with the stock flat-lining, you can put in a tight stop, incase the deal should crater...