Coal as an investment?

[Audi Junkie]

My Mom sold a third of her tele stock from when she worked at AT&T and bought a ton of coal co stocks on the advice of her broker. She never makes any moves and I was a lil shocked and nervous when I heard it. I'd like to think I know a bit about energy, but w/o any time to research it, I dunno what to think. I'd be more inclined to buy into a newer high-tech energy, but there are pitfalls everywhere.

Like I said, I'd be more inclined to do the actual project set-up and everthing, rather than just to buy-in to another company. For instance, I even know of a good site for windmills here on old strip mines that people I know have the rights to.

Anyway, what's the prospects of caol as an investment? Discuss.

 

[pickled]

I'm not a financial adviser by any means, but here's my take on the coal picture. Coal has had a run already, but probably has a decent amount more to go depending on what the companies core product is. Anthracite is king in pricing at the moment, but some of the "cleaner" bituminous coal grade producers are pretty attractive at the moment too. With gasification and other clean coal technologies sprouting up I think there is still room for advancement for the coal sector even in the high sulfur pricing.

IMO the future of coal equities are dependent upon the elections and >$130/barrel oil now. As the cartel keeps the price of oil high (uh I mean demand sorry about that) there will be pressure to invest in innovation. If oil drops back you will see a weaker picture. Personally I'm sitting on a pile of cash that is waiting for investment as soon as the candidates tip their hands a little more on their agendas/plans and pick VP candidates.

Like I said...I AM NOT A FINANCIAL ADVISER- this is just an opinion.

 

[Shannow]

Depends...spot price of cioking coal is over $400/tonne for the export market.

This is starting to impact on power generators, as although the coal grades are significantly poorer (and the price), mines can make an early fortune concentrating on the good/coking coal, even if it's more expensive to win.

 

[GROUCHO MARX]

Coal's had a nice run, it's not a favorite fuel among "greenies".

 

[Al]

Coal is like any commodity..Its very very risky. look up the ticker symbo: KOL

Sounds to me like bad advice (IMHO). Even someone who is versed in stocks buying individual stocks is very risky. Putting a high percentage of of one's savings in a particular sector is risky. She just did the worst of three worlds (IMHO)

 

[globey]

Originally Posted By: GROUCHO MARX
Coal's had a nice run, it's not a favorite fuel among "greenies".


No, but it's still the most widely used fuel in China by a wide margin.

 

[H2GURU]

Coal is great investment because we've got around a 300 year supply. Has had a fine recent run-up. I view it as the type of investment that is HELD rather than TRADED as you want to be in it for the l o n g haul. Yes it does emit large volumes of CO2 but there aren't any alternatives so its here to stay. Coal to liquids and to SNG is being pusued with much vigor. In the 1980s they predicted the death of coal and built new power plants using gas, but we are short on that as well?

 

[Tornado Red]

Even if government puts limits on coal-fired power plants, there will still be a huge export demand. Coal seems like a good long-term investment regardless of what the government does. It won't climb 20-40% annually, but it will climb, and they are not making any more of it.

 

[crinkles]

you can make synthetic gasoline/petrol from Coal... South Africa did this during the embargo's during apartheid very successfully. Oil imports got blocked so they developed a process to make fuel from what South Africa has a lot of... coal.

 

[Gary Allan]

If it's dirt cheap now ...than any energy source will assuredly gain value in the future. You just don't know the time line for when it's going to move back into King Coal.

 

[Audi Junkie]

I saw KOL lost 8% on monday as oil went down to $110. I asked Mom about it and she read from her statment a pretty nice 1 month gain! Dividends, I guess.

 

[Audi Junkie]

I was busting her that coal is kinda dead. I mean...no coal powered cellphones or spaceships on the horizon, afaik.

 

[lewdwig]

I've got 3/4 ton of coal (from Y2K - remember that?). I can either burn it in my heater or sell it if the price skyrockets!

Seriously, we've got to burn coal or split atoms to generate electricity (maybe for all those electric cars), I don't see us conserving our way out of this mess. People don't want to go to bed when the sun sets, or not watch big-screen TV's, or not have air conditioning, etc.

Let's hope the next administration gets an energy policy.

 

[Steve S]

Originally Posted By: lewdwig
I've got 3/4 ton of coal (from Y2K - remember that?). I can either burn it in my heater or sell it if the price skyrockets!

Seriously, we've got to burn coal or split atoms to generate electricity (maybe for all those electric cars), I don't see us conserving our way out of this mess. People don't want to go to bed when the sun sets, or not watch big-screen TV's, or not have air conditioning, etc.

Let's hope the next administration gets an energy policy.

The energy policy of the new administration will be the one that will benefits the highest $$$ contributer