Analysts’ Ideas Of The Week

Table of Contents:

1. Summary

2. FRC Top Picks

3. Weekly Mining Commentary

4. Updates from Resource Companies under Coverage

5. Updates from Financial, Technology, Energy, and Special Situations Companies under Coverage

6. Weekly Crypto Commentary

7. Weekly Cannabis Commentary

8. Psychedelic Industry Performance

Summary

1. Our predictions for metal prices and the US$.
2. An LSE listed company, supported by Glencore (LSE: GLEN), Volkswagen (XTRA: VOW3), and Stellantis (BIT: STLAM), is acquiring nickel/copper mines in Brazil for $1B.
3. The U.S. SEC has launched a lawsuit against Coinbase (NASDAQ: COIN).
4. Negative news for Canadian cannabis producers
5. Bonanza silver grades from a junior resource company under coverage

FRC Top Picks

The following table shows last week’s top five performers among our Top Picks, including five junior resource companies. The top performer Lumina Gold Corp. (TSXV: LUM), was up 19.2%. Last month, LUM had announced a US$300M financing agreement with Wheaton Precious Metals (TSX: WPM). Our prior reports can be viewed here.

Companies on our Top Picks list are up 12% on average since we initiated coverage vs -31% for the benchmark (TSXV).

1. Since the earliest initiating date of companies in the list of Top Picks (as of Jun 12, 2023)
2. Green (blue) indicates FRC’s picks outperformed (underperformed) the benchmark.
3. Past performance is not indicative of future performance.

Our complete list of top picks (updated weekly) can be viewed here.

Weekly Mining Commentary

Last week, global equity markets were up 0.1% on average (up 0.4% in the prior week). The TSX Composite Index was down 0.5%, amid a surprise 0.25% rate hike from the Bank of Canada. In their upcoming meetings this week, the Fed is expected to hold its benchmark rate (amid cooling inflation, rising financial instability, and higher than expected jobless claims), while the European Central Bank is expected to raise its rate, which  we believe should drive the US$ lower, and metal prices higher.

Source: FRC/Various

Gold/silver/copper prices remained relatively flat last week.

Valuations of gold producers were down 1% last week (up 2% in the prior week); base metal producers were up 1% last week (up 4% in the prior week).

We are maintaining our metal price forecasts.

Source: FRC

A key sector development is listed below (positive):

– ACG Acquisition Company Limited (LSE: ACG) is acquiring a portfolio of nickel/copper mines in Brazil, from Appian Capital Advisory, for $1B. ACG has offtake agreements in place with Glencore, Volkswagen, and Stellantis. As mentioned in our previous reports, we are expecting majors to grow their EV-metal portfolios through M&A. Check out our list of top picks  to view our favorite EV-metal juniors.

Updates from Resource Companies Under Coverage

FRC Opinion

Positive – Preliminary drill results returned bonanza silver grades over narrow intervals. Management plans to drill two more targets this month, as part of a resource expansion program.

FRC Opinion

Positive – The first two holes of a step-out and infill drill program (25,000 m) have extended the mineralized footprint of the Goldstorm deposit, implying resource expansion potential. The project already has a large resource-base totaling 31 Moz AuEq.

FRC Opinion

Positive – Drilling continues to return high gold grades over reasonably long intervals  (5 m of 4.5 g/t Au), potentially expanding the current resource envelope along depth.

FRC Opinion

Positive – NVX believes it can delineate 35 Koz to 70 Koz of surface oxide gold resources for this project; management is planning a maiden drill program shortly. We had not assigned a value for this project previously. We will produce an update report shortly.

FRC Opinion

Positive – Proceeds will be used to advance its project in Argentina.

We are suspending coverage on the following companies as management of these companies have not responded to our questions for an update report:

 Southern Empire Resources  

Sigyn Therapeutics

RecycLiCo Battery Materials Inc.

Silver X Mining

Weekly Crypto Commentary

Prices of mainstream/popular cryptos were down 10% on average last week (down 6% in the previous week).

Source: FRC/Yahoo Finance

The global MCAP of cryptos is US$1.05T, down 6% MoM, and 8% YoY.

Source: Coinmarketcap

Companies operating in the crypto space are trading at an average EV/R of 6.6x (previously 7.3x).

EV/R of Crypto Companies

Source: S&P Capital IQ/FRC

Source: S&P Capital IQ/FRC

Key sector developments are listed below (mixed):

– Last week, the U.S. SEC launched a lawsuit against Coinbase, for potentially violating securities laws. In the week prior to last, the SEC had launched a lawsuit against Binance.

– A former chief of the U.S. SEC has issued a warning, via Twitter, to investors, stating – “Get out of crypto platforms now”.

– Iranian and Russian leaders are in discussions for potentially using tokens to evade sanctions and facilitate trades.

Weekly Cannabis Commentary

Cannabis Industry Performance

Source: FRC/Yahoo Finance

Last week, U.S cannabis stocks outperformed their Canadian peers (3% vs -1%). U.S stocks had underperformed in the week prior to last.

A key sector development is listed below (negative):

– According to Health Canada, dried cannabis inventories increased from 1.3B grams at the end of 2021, to 1.5B grams by the end of 2022. We are expecting product prices to remain under pressure amid excess supply.

Valuation

Canadian cannabis stocks are trading at a 29% discount on average (previously 23%) relative to their U.S. peers.

Source: S&P Capital IQ, FRC

                                                                                       Average EV/R

Source: S&P Capital IQ, FRC

Psychedelic Industry Performance

Psychedelic stocks were flat on average last week (up 5% in the previous week).

Source: TMX Money, FRC

Disclaimers and Disclosure

The opinions expressed in this report are the true opinions of the analyst(s) about any companies and industries mentioned. Any “forward looking statements” are our best estimates and opinions based upon information that is publicly available and that we believe to be correct, but we have not independently verified with respect to truth or correctness. There is no guarantee that our forecasts will materialize. Actual results will likely vary. Certain companies mentioned are covered by FRC under an issuer paid model. FRC or companies with related management, and Analysts, may hold shares/securities in some companies mentioned in this report. Distribution procedure: our reports are distributed first to our web-based subscribers on the date shown on this report then made available to delayed access users through various other channels for a limited time. To subscribe for real-time access to research, visit https://www.researchfrc.com/website/subscribe for subscription options. This report contains “forward looking” statements. Forward-looking statements regarding the Company, industry, and/or stock’s performance inherently involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ from such forward-looking statements. Factors that would cause or contribute to such differences include, but are not limited to, continued acceptance of the Company’s products/services in the marketplace; acceptance in the marketplace of the Company’s new product lines/services; competitive factors; new product/service introductions by others; technological changes; dependence on suppliers; systematic market risks and other risks discussed in the Company’s periodic report filings, including interim reports, annual reports, and annual information forms filed with the various securities regulators. By making these forward-looking statements, Fundamental Research Corp. and the analyst/author of this report undertakes no obligation to update these statements for revisions or changes after the date of this report. Fundamental Research Corp DOES NOT MAKE ANY WARRANTIES, EXPRESSED OR IMPLIED, AS TO RESULTS TO BE OBTAINED FROM USING THIS INFORMATION AND MAKES NO EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR USE. ANYONE USING THIS REPORT ASSUMES FULL RESPONSIBILITY FOR WHATEVER RESULTS THEY OBTAIN FROM WHATEVER USE THE INFORMATION WAS PUT TO. ALWAYS TALK TO YOUR FINANCIAL ADVISOR BEFORE YOU INVEST. WHETHER A STOCK SHOULD BE INCLUDED IN A PORTFOLIO DEPENDS ON ONE’S RISK TOLERANCE, OBJECTIVES, SITUATION, RETURN ON OTHER ASSETS, ETC. ONLY YOUR INVESTMENT ADVISOR WHO KNOWS YOUR UNIQUE CIRCUMSTANCES CAN MAKE A PROPER RECOMMENDATION AS TO THE MERIT OF ANY PARTICULAR SECURITY FOR INCLUSION IN YOUR PORTFOLIO. This REPORT is solely for informative purposes and is not a solicitation or an offer to buy or sell any security. It is not intended as being a complete description of the company, industry, securities or developments referred to in the material. Any forecasts contained in this report were independently prepared unless otherwise stated, and HAVE NOT BEEN endorsed by the Management of the company which is the subject of this report. Additional information is available upon request. THIS REPORT IS COPYRIGHT. YOU MAY NOT REDISTRIBUTE THIS REPORT WITHOUT OUR PERMISSION. Please give proper credit, including citing Fundamental Research Corp and/or the analyst, when quoting information from this report. The information contained in this report is intended to be viewed only in jurisdictions where it may be legally viewed and is not intended for use by any person or entity in any jurisdiction where such use would be contrary to local regulations or which would require any registration requirement within such jurisdiction.