Coal producer stocks extend gains
biz.yahoo.com
Wednesday October 10, 3:48 pm Eastern Time
NEW YORK, Oct 10 (Reuters) - The stocks of U.S. coal producers extended their gains of the past two weeks with the help of an industry update from Merrill Lynch.
Analyst Daniel Roling said shares of U.S. coal producers have declined in recent months in response to perceptions of a link between natural gas prices and coal prices, coupled with concerns regarding the impact of a U.S. recession. Reaffirming his expectation of significant upside earnings potential beyond next year for coal companies, Roling said the selling of these stocks had been excessive. He said Arch Coal (NYSE:ACI - news) and CONSOL (NYSE:CNX - news) have the potential to double their earnings by 2005 from the 2002 base level.
In late Wednesday trading, the stock of second largest U.S. coal producer Arch was up 5.97 percent, or $1.11, to $19.70 -- up nearly 43 percent from its low of two weeks ago. CONSOL, the fourth largest producer, was still up $1.02, or 3.976 percent, to $26.72 for a two-week gain of about 37 percent. Wednesday's biggest percentage gain was being shown by NACCO Industries (NYSE:NC - news), which was trading at $60.50, up $3.87 or 6.83 percent in late trading for a two week gain of nearly 28 percent. Close behind was Massey Energy (NYSE:MEE - news), up 6.32 percent, or $1.09, to $18.83. The stock of the seventh largest coal producer has added over 54 percent in two weeks.
The nation's 10th largest producer, Westmoreland Coal (AMEX:WLB - news), was up 4.27 percent, or 60 cents, to $14.65, for a two-week gain of over 30 percent. But Peabody Energy (NYSE:BTU - news) was off 56 cents, or 1.91 percent, to $26.70 per share. In the five sessions that ended Tuesday, the shares of the nation's largest coal producer had added about 11 percent.
It was the only coal company with a news announcement Wednesday, detailing new management in its coal sales operations.
Texas utility holding company TXU Corp (NYSE:TXU - news), the ninth largest U.S. coal producer in terms of tons of coal mined, was also down -- 94 cents, or 2.01 percent to $45.75. |
