The year started off with a bang for investors as many sectors got rocked by geopolitical tensions, but a few weeks later we’re starting to see a clearer picture of where companies are headed. That’s allowed the Stockhouse Bullboards to pinpoint some small-cap opportunities that are on the rise.
In Canada that’s been the resources and tech sectors so far, and in this week’s Buzz we take a look at some of the companies making noise on the Bullboards. In some cases, the opportunity for investors has been clear-cut, while in others, a lack of information makes for deep-dive discussions into what’s available.
The last few weeks have been pretty busy for energy companies as the US-Iran conflict sent oil prices on a wild ride, and the energy Bullboards have been getting a lot of consistent traffic in response. However, one of the most-viewed companies was an exploration small-cap that was moving quite independently from the market, exploration company
CGX Energy Inc. (
TSX-V:OYL,
Forum). On Jan. 3, shares of OYL closed at $0.50, before rising for the week and closing at $0.72 on Jan. 14.
Looking at CGX’s last few months shows a huge drop in the middle of November before the company started recovering, but what was the cause? On the day of the drop, the company confirmed
no undisclosed information, and since then, has stayed largely quiet outside of a Dec. 3 announcement of a
stock option grant and Jan. 9 announcement of
newly elected directors.
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With so little coming from CGX itself, members congregated on the OYL Bullboard to try and figure out what was going on. Amidst calls for further releases or well discoveries were some in-depth dives into the directors announced, a new property presentation from CGX, and Stockhouse Members like
pathfinder8 highlighting that investors can’t expect big news from every single meeting or release.
“This was a sole purpose meeting not designed to be an open discussion on what is happening. In any event it is all good, onward and upward to whereever it takes us. Reading the apache presentation, the whole area is impressive.”
(Po?st: CGX Special meeting)
New year, same mining stocks? Even though the metals and mining Bullboards have some familiar faces at the top of the most-viewed weekly chart, some of those favorites have had some notable updates. Case in point is the return of
Ucore Rare Metals Inc. (
TSX-V:UCU,
Forum) towards the top of the chart, even though the REE company had a relatively stable January so far, with shares hovering just above $0.2.
As you can see in the chart above, the big jump and change for Ucore happened around the end of December. The company is one of few vying to be a domestic supply of Heavy REE for the US, and on Dec. 23, the company announced it had
submitted a bid to the US Government with a new major partner,
Materion Corp (
NYSE:MTRN).
On the UCU Bullboard, the news was heavily celebrated, but the question has quickly shifted to the viability of the bid. The race is on between Ucore’s bid and a number of competitors, chief of which seems to be a bid from
Texas Mineral Resources Corp. (
OTC:TMRC). But from what the UCU Bullboard users have seen from the bids, and the general direction of UCU compared to TMRC, users like Stockhouse Member
asdomke are confident in Ucore’s position.
“I still believe when PR brings to light the UCU vs TMRC realities that UCore is 1st in every way. Texas M will be where UCore is now and we will be where Texas was a week ago. That is realistic and it will happen quickly. We are with the winning horse!”
(Po?st: RE:TMRC)
One of the bigger surprises of the new year has been on the technology Bullboards, where
Quantum Numbers Corp. (
TSX-V:QNC,
Forum) has quickly and rapidly climbed the most-viewed chart. The Montréal-based cryptographic security provider is in a cybersecurity field that’s
gained a lot traction, and with perfect timing, so too has QNC. On Jan. 7, shares of Quantum Numbers closed at $0.17 before rising to a high of $0.27 on Jan. 14.
If you thought the other companies listed in this article have had sparse news releases, take a look at QNC’s newsfeed. The latest release from the company was a Nov. 20 announcement of
progression in receiving a patent from the European Patent Office, and before that was the Sept. 25 initial announcement of the patent being issues. Outside of patent issues, you’re not going to find much on the company’s newsfeed.
So QNC Bullboard users have had their work cut out for them figuring out where the company is headed. Quantum’s technology has some major international competition, but currently users are finding that the company is in the lead (and price action indicates the market agrees). However, Stockhouse Member
gurupitkastocks reminded everyone that even though QNC was experiencing a recent surge, the relative rise is small compared to what could come next.
“I love the run up lately, but this is small potatoes. We have a technology that is much better and cheaper than SK and ID. Something is in the works. Not sure if it's a sell out, a partial deal or a contract for royalty, but it is getting exciting. I believe we are still a bit of a ways off until the big stuff. With a cyber war around the corner, 5G creating a hackers delight, and companies being hit financially with hacks, QNC will be a massive player in the field…”
Two weeks into a new year and we’ve seen a lot of market action and attention on metals. Our
current Investor Pulse Poll asks which metals users expect to have the best 2020, and early results are swinging strongly in gold’s favor.
While experts have said they expect the price of gold to increase well into the year, there’s also been a lot of noise about copper and palladium outpacing it, and the inevitable recovery of lithium. Make sure to head to the Stockhouse homepage or click the image below to cast your vote as well!
(Click image to go to the poll)
Investors are already expecting the next week of trading to be big, with the first phase of the US-China trade deal impacting markets and the hot cannabis sector reporting more earnings. Buzz on the Bullboards will have you covered for what you missed, and what small-cap companies Stockhouse investors are interested in. For previous editions of Buzz on the Bullboards:
click here.
FULL DISCLOSURE: Ucore Rare Metals Inc. is a client of Stockhouse Publishing.