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While the major market averages have taken a beating over the last week, gold (GLD) has been one of the few asset classes to stage a sharp rally, with the metal up 2.5% for the week and over 5% since Thursday’s close.
The outperformance can be partially attributed to the belief that the Federal Reserve may have to rethink its rate-hike plans because of the fragility of the Financial Sector (XLF) with two banks already failing and several other regional banks down over 50% from their highs in a one-week span.
The sharp move higher in gold has fueled a major rally in the Gold Miners Index (GDX) which has soared 11% off its lows with the gold producers providing leverage to the metal, especially costs for the group rose materially last year.
In fact, the $110/oz move in gold has led to a temporary ~20% increase in margins for the producers, partially explaining the powerful performance of the group.
However, a couple of names were left in the dust during this rally, providing the opportunity to add exposure to miners without paying up for names that have already headed into overbought territory.

In this update, we’ll look at two names that have lagged their peers, and why they look like long-term outperformers vs. the index.
I-80 Gold (IAUX)
I-80 Gold (IAUX) was one of the best-performing gold developers in 2022, putting together a 15% return vs. 20-30% declines for many of its gold developer peers.
Unfortunately, the stock has since given up considerable ground to start 2023, down 26% for the year which has placed it near the bottom of the pack among its peers.
The disappointing performance for this junior producer with a ~$700 million market cap (assumes 350 million fully diluted shares) is partially attributed to a ~$65 million financing earlier in the year that led to an increase in its fully diluted share count and the announcement of a bought deal secondary offering by its largest shareholder because of a funding gap as it builds a massive mine in Canada, Greenstone.
Finally, i-80 Gold announced the acquisition of its southern neighbor in Nevada, and we often see weakness following M&A when the payment is in shares.
However, the initial convertible debt financing was done at a conversion price ~70% above current levels ($3.38), the secondary offering by Equinox Gold (EQX) had nothing to do with i-80 Gold (related to improving Equinox’s balance sheet instead), and the acquisition was a very positive development.
Not only does i-80 Gold add over 1,400 hectares of land directly adjoining its flagship Ruby Hill Property with the acquisition, but it paid a very attractive price of just ~$25/oz assuming that Paycore has at least 2 million gold-equivalent ounces [GEOs] on its property.
Given that there’s a historical resource on the property of ~1.4 million GEOs at industry-leading grades on a gold-equivalent basis, I certainly wouldn’t rule out potential for 2.0 million GEOs, and this will add critical mass next to where the company plans to have its flotation plant just 2 kilometers north.
However, despite the addition of significant land that increases its probability of delineating multiple polymetallic deposits and a stronger balance sheet that has set i-80 up for an aggressive drill season and development of two mines, the company has shed ~$350 million in market cap, with the market basically saying that the Paycore ground (2.5 kilometers of strike with historic mines) is worthless, as are the new targets presented to the market which sit east and south of its new high-grade Hilltop discovery.
I see this as a huge disconnect, and one that is not likely to remain in place for long, especially as i-80 grows its global resource base closer to 20 million GEOs over the next 18 months (~14 million GEOs currently).
Based on an estimated net asset value of ~$1.41 billion and a conservative estimate of ~352 million fully diluted shares plus a 1.1x P/NAV multiple to reflect its exploration success to date in a top mining jurisdiction, I see a fair value for the stock of $4.46, translating to 118% upside from current levels.
However, this assumes no new major discoveries are made on the property or at its Granite Creek Project, and I’m assigning a very conservative $250 million to its polymetallic potential in this price target.
Given the grades of this discovery, it ultimately looks like it could command a value north of $600 million, with a NPV (5%) for Hilltop/Blackjack of $400+ million alone using conservative tonnage targets, so I would argue that I am undervaluing the potential here, but prefer to err on the side of caution without resources in place yet.
While i-80’s short-term goal is to become a 250,000 ounce producer and grow production by ~400% from FY2023 levels, I ultimately see the company having the potential to become a 450,000-ounce producer in Nevada which could easily command a market cap of $3.2+ billion.
Even if we assume one more large financing in 2024 to fund this growth and a fully diluted share count of 400 million shares, this would translate to a fair value of $8.00, suggesting ~300% upside for i-80 Gold long-term even without any new major discoveries on its properties.
In summary, I am bullish short-term and long-term, and I see this ~35% correction in i-80 Gold as a gift, and I plan to continue to accumulate on weakness if this correction persists.
Wesdome Mines (WDOFF)
Wesdome Mines (WDOFF) has been a miserable performing stock over the past year, sliding over 65% from its Q1 2022 highs after missing FY2022 guidance not once, but twice, and struggling to complete necessary mine development to set itself up for a strong 2023.
Although the double guidance miss by a country mile was inexcusable and the company should have been more conservative given that it relied on efficient supply chains to ensure the receipt of key equipment, there’s little value in being negative on the stock when it’s already lost over $1.0 billion in market cap from its peak valuation.
It’s also worth noting that while the guidance misses were some of the worst sector-wide in 2022 with 113,000 ounces produced vs. a guidance mid-point of 170,000 ounces of gold,everything that could go wrong in 2022 went wrong, and it was a kitchen sink year.
This included the late delivery of mobile equipment (supply chain headwinds), delayed construction of the paste fill plant (supply chain headwinds), and the late delivery of mechanized bolters (supply chain headwinds).
Adding insult to injury, we saw some negative grade reconciliation at its flagship mine and a leach tank failure plus a hoist rope manufacturing detect.
These former three issues impacted development rates and left its new Kiena mine more than a year behind its planned schedule. The latter made for a weaker year at Eagle River.
Fortunately, the mechanized bolters are now on site, the paste fill plant has been commissioned, and the company has received all of its mobile equipment deliveries as well.
However, the unfortunate impact of these delays is that Kiena’s development is a year behind schedule, meaning that 2023 will be a weaker year than initially planned with planned head grades of 3.7 to 4.7 grams per tonne gold.
This means that even with all the equipment on site and issues out of the way, we will see a delayed recovery in production and another very high cost year in 2023.
So, with another year of costs well above the industry average and relatively flat production, it’s no surprise that the stock hasn’t been able to gain much traction.
However, among all of this negativity, the positives to this story have been forgotten.
For starters, both of its processing facilities have additional excess capacity, suggesting a path to a 250,000 ounce per annum production profile long-term in an upside case scenario (FY2023 guidance: 120,000 ounces).
Second, Kiena and Eagle River are two of the richest mines from a grade standpoint globally, and the negativity related to delays and weaker margins has drowned out all of last year’s exploration success.
Finally, I believe that the company may have sandbagged FY2023 guidance with an interim CEO in place and a brutal year behind it, with easy comps in place and a very low bar for expectations.

So, if we see progress in any of these three areas, the stock could wake up from its slumber and march back towards the US$7.00 level.
Based on ~145 million fully diluted shares and a share price of US$5.00, Wesdome trades at a market cap of US$725 million, which on the surface might seem high for a company with a ~120,000-ounce production profile with all-in sustaining costs [AISC] of $1,700/oz.
However, it’s important to note that Wesdome has industry-leading grades and a path to sub $1,100/oz AISC, meaning that it’s a totally different company post-2023 once it gets into higher grades at Kiena.
Plus, the long-term opportunity here is 250,000+ ounces given that Kiena alone could do 120,000 ounces per annum with the addition of the Footwall Zone (much higher ounces per vertical meter) + using excess mill capacity. Using a P/NAV multiple of 1.05x, I see a fair value for the stock of US$7.30, translating to ~46% upside from current levels.
So, for investors willing to be contrarians, I would view any pullbacks in the stock below US$4.90 as low-risk buying opportunities to play for a rebound in the stock once sentiment improves over the next 6-18 months.
Ultimately, I would not be surprised to see the stock trade back above US$8.25 per share by Q3 2024 if exploration success continues and both operations get back to operating as expected with a sub $1,100/oz AISC profile.
Disclosure: I am long IAUX, WDOFF
Taylor DartINO.com Contributor
Disclaimer: This article is the opinion of the contributor themselves. Taylor Dart is not a Registered Investment Advisor or Financial Planner. This writing is for informational purposes only. It does not constitute an offer to sell, a solicitation to buy, or a recommendation regarding any securities transaction. The information contained in this writing should not be construed as financial or investment advice on any subject matter. Taylor Dart expressly disclaims all liability in respect to actions taken based on any or all of the information in this writing. Given the volatility in the precious metals sector, position sizing is critical, so when buying small-cap precious metals stocks, position sizes should be limited to 5% or less of one’s portfolio.

The Federal Open Market Committee meets next week, at which time it is expected to raise its benchmark interest rate another 50 basis points, to a range of 4.75% to 5.00%, if we correctly interpret Fed Chair Jerome Powell’s testimony to Congress last week, when he said “the ultimate level of interest rates is likely to be higher than previously anticipated.”
Before that, the market had expected a 25-basis point increase, equivalent to its most recent hike at the Jan. 31-February 1 meeting. As we know, his comments sent stock and bond prices sharply lower.
Since then, though, we’ve had some serious news coming out of the banking system, namely the failure of SVB Bank and the closure of Silvergate Capital (both regulated by the Fed!) and worries that some of the largest U.S. banks (also regulated by the Fed) are sitting on some huge, unrealized losses in their government bond portfolios.
In this atmosphere, is a larger than expected rate increase next week—i.e., 50 bps rather than 25—justified?
Or should the Fed maybe show a little restraint and raise the fed funds rate only a quarter point?

And if it does, what will be the likely market reaction?
In his Capitol Hill testimony, Powell focused – as you would expect – on the U.S. economy, namely its stronger than expected recent performance, particularly in the jobs market, which in February gained another 311,000 jobs even as the unemployment rate rose slightly to 3.6%.
The Fed seems hellbent on making up for its past errors of overly long, overly loose monetary policy by ramming through rate increases no matter how much harm they might cause.
Ignoring the second component of its Congressional mandate, namely promoting full employment, the Fed is instead totally focused on slaying inflation as fast as possible, even though getting from the current rate of inflation – 6.4% in January — back down to its 2% target will no doubt take some time.
After all, the Fed only started raising interest rates back in March 2022, when the fed funds rate was at or near zero. 
While getting the interest rate regime back to the “old normal” of 5-6% has been a long time coming and is a worthy endeavor, it’s probably unrealistic to believe we can get there in a year or so, after we’ve become accustomed to more than 15 years of near-zero rates, without causing some serious and unforeseen problems.
Since Powell has gone out of his way recently, most notably during his Congressional testimony, to disabuse the markets of the idea that the Fed is about to “pivot” to a more moderate rate-rising program, it’s unlikely that the Fed will do anything other than raise rates by 50 bps at its March 21-22 meeting.
But what if it doesn’t? What if concerns about potential problems in the banking system force the Fed to hold back and raise rates only 25 bps, or not at all?
The first reaction might be euphoria. Stocks will rally on the belief that the Fed is doing the right thing by moderating its rate-hiking regime.
Conversely, such a move might create a whole new reason to worry. What does the Fed know that we don’t? Are things so bad out there that the Fed doesn’t dare change rates more than it’s conditioned us to expect?
I think the latter reaction is least likely, for the simple reason that the Fed, despite all its collective brain power, really doesn’t know more than us mere mortals do, certainly a lot less than we give it credit for (see SVB and Silvergate, which happened right under its nose).

In his testimony, Powell didn’t mention any potential problems in the banking system, which didn’t come to light until a couple of days later.
Is that because he didn’t want to create a panic, or because the Fed doesn’t believe these potential problems aren’t as serious as the market reaction implied?
It’s hard to believe he didn’t know of their existence, since Fed officials talk with the nation’s most important bankers all the time. How could he not know? Then again…
If I had to bet, I would expect the Fed to go through with a 50 bp hike next week, barring some new, Black Swan-type, calamity, since it’s already pretty much telegraphed that’s what it’s going to do.
But the Fed should also say it is closely monitoring the banking sector and any potential economic fallout, which could require a more moderate policy stance going forward.
George YacikINO.com Contributor
Disclosure: This article is the opinion of the contributor themselves. The above is a matter of opinion provided for general information purposes only and is not intended as investment advice. This contributor is not receiving compensation (other than from INO.com) for their opinion.

Editor’s Note: Our experts here at INO.com cover a lot of investing topics and great stocks every week. To help you make sense of it all, every Wednesday we’re going to pick one of those stocks and use Magnifi Personal to compare it with its peers or competitors. Here we go…

Bank stocks have dropped and markets are still spooked after last week’s collapse of Silicon Valley Bank, and it’s unclear how far the fallout will reach.
But amid all the talk of how many other banks are in trouble, the effects on a related industry has gotten very little attention.
We’re talking about the mortgage-backed bond markets. See, according to an article from the Financial Times’ Alphaville team, Silicon Valley Bank is still sitting on a $50 billion book of MBS (mortgage-backed securities). It is likely government regulators that have taken over Silicon Valley Bank will need to dump those bonds to help cover the cost of giving depositors all of their money back.
That possibility caused mayhem in the U.S. mortgage market on March 10, as investors rushed to get ahead of getting squashed by the bank’s potential MBS dump. Therefore, mortgage spreads sharply widened on that day as Silicon Valley Bank circled the drain.

So today, we’re going to use the Magnifi Personal investing AI to compare the most important MBS-trading companies and see if there are any opportunities here – or if the risk is too high.
Doing this was simple. we asked Magnifi Personal to “Compare AGNC, STWD, and BXMT” and it did all the work.
To have the investing AI run similar comparisons for you, or to dive deeper into this one and compare other banks or REITs, we’re offering 90 days of free access to Magnifi Personal – just click here!
This ability to have an investing AI pore over reams of data for you in seconds and spit out an easy-to-understand comparison of two or more stocks is an invaluable tool in deciding where to invest next.
I highly recommend you try it out. Click here to see how you can do it today, free-of-charge.
Here’s what Magnifi Personal showed me after we asked it to in “Compare AGNC, STWD, and BXMT”:

This is an example of a response using Magnifi Personal. This image is not a recommendation or individual advice. Please see bottom disclaimer for additional information, including INO’s relationship with Magnifi.
As you can see, Starwood Property Trust Inc. (STWD) comes out on top, with lower volatility and better returns. And that’s despite the recent chaos in mortgage-backed securities caused by Silicon Valley Bank’s collapse.
Now, we picked these three particular stocks for a reason. All three are so-called mortgage REITs, or MREITs. While mortgage spreads widening last Friday wasn’t a concern for most investors, MREITs were already “feeling the heat” when Silicon Valley Bank blew up, and could be “incinerated” if we have more days like March 10.
That’s because MREITs differ from traditional real estate investment trusts in that they buy individual mortgages and MBS instead of actual property. They do hedge out their duration risk, something Silicon Valley Bank didn’t do well.
However, that leaves the MREITs purely exposed to mortgage spreads. And keep in mind that MREITs are very big players in mortgages, since they use a lot of leverage to invest in what is normally very boring, low-return bonds.
That’s a potentially big problem.
With a lot of leverage, it might not take many more days like March 10 before some MREITs start facing issues. If that were to happen, they too might have to sell off their MBS portfolios, like Silicon Valley Bank may have to.
That in turn would put even more pressure on the rest of the MREIT sector, potentially forcing them to liquidate as well, and so on. I suspect this was a major reason why the U.S. government acted so quickly and forcefully.
The three stocks we picked were mentioned in the Financial Times article I mentioned earlier as among the largest MREITs around: AGNC Investment (AGNC) with $51.7 billion in assets; Starwood Property Trust (STWD) with $28.3 billion in assets; and Blackstone Mortgage Trust (BXMT) with $26.8 billion in assets.
With the power of the Magnifi Personal AI at our fingertips, we can get a lot more granular than just looking at one-year returns and volatility. For example, you can ask Magnifi Personal to extend the time frame to three years and add their Sharpe ratios, a measure of whether any extra return is outweighed by extra risk, to the comparison.
This lets you see how they fared over the whole pandemic period, which caused massive turbulence, and whether any extra returns are worth any extra risk.

This is an example of a response using Magnifi Personal. This image is not a recommendation or individual advice. Please see bottom disclaimer for additional information, including INO’s relationship with Magnifi.
Starwood again comes out on top. It might even be a good investment to consider, for those brave enough to wade in before the Silicon Valley Bank fallout clears out.

This research is just a starting point, of course. Magnifi Personal can easily compare these or any other stocks on many more criteria, such as dividend yield, margins, and much more. You can also ask it for competitors to these stocks, a list of similar stocks, and so on. Explore all the options, or have the Magnifi Personal investing AI start a new research journey for you today – simply click here get free access for 90 days!
In volatile times like these, this kind of in-depth and quick investing research is invaluable.
Latest from Magnifi Learn: Financial markets can seem intimidating at first glance. Between the jargon and the potential to lose some of your hard earned money, it’s easy to get overwhelmed. With a little knowledge you can gain the confidence to get started investing.

INO.com, a division of TIFIN Group LLC, is affiliated with Magnifi via common ownership. INO.com will receive cash compensation for referrals of clients who open accounts with Magnifi.
Magnifi LLC does not charge advisory fees or transaction fees for non-managed accounts. Clients who elect to have Magnifi LLC manage all or a portion of their account will be charged an advisory fee. Magnifi LLC receives compensation from product sponsors related to recommendations. Other fees and charges may apply.
Diversification does not guarantee a profit or protect against a loss in a declining market. It is a method used to help manage investment risk.
Mutual Funds and Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs) are sold by prospectus. Please consider the investment objectives, risks, charges, and expenses carefully before investing. The prospectus, which contains this and other information about the investment company, can be obtained from the Fund Company or your financial professional. Be sure to read the prospectus carefully before deciding whether to invest.

In February 2023, the US economy produced 311,000 jobs, surpassing market expectations of 205,000, and revised down from 504,000 in January. This indicates a labor market that remains tight, with an average of 343,000 jobs added per month over the previous six months.
This is another upbeat NFP report following last month’s even stronger data. The Fed now has more ammunition to potentially raise rates by 0.5% at their next meeting.
Let’s take a look at how the market reacted to this report.
Chart Courtesy: finviz.com
The top three winners last Friday, when the jobs report was published, were VIX, which gained +9.42% in just one day, heating oil futures, which rose by +4.22%, and the Swiss franc, which increased by +2.75%.

On the other side of diagram, the top three losers were cotton futures, which fell by -4.87%, natural gas, which dropped by -4.21%, and Russell 2000 index futures, which declined by -2.59%.
The VIX, often called the “fear index,” is a real-time index measuring the expected volatility of the S&P 500 over 30 days. It rises when investors are anxious and falls when they are confident. Strong growth indicates increased uncertainty, caused by various factors like economic or political instability, interest rates, or investor sentiment. A high VIX can suggest a market correction or downturn.
Another situation where a 3-letter acronym is involved is the case of SVB or Silicon Valley Bank, which is one of the largest banks in the US and holds the top position in Silicon Valley in terms of local deposits.
US regulators closed down Silicon Valley Bank last Friday due to a rush of customer withdrawals totaling $42 billion – a quarter of its total deposits – in a single day. The bank’s failed attempt to raise new capital raised concerns about its future as a technology-focused lender. With $209 billion in assets, the bank’s closure makes it the second-largest bank failure in US history after Washington Mutual’s collapse in 2008.
Source: TradingView
Last week, banking stocks (blue line) suffered a significant decline, losing nearly 9%, and subsequently pulling down the broader index (red line) by almost 5%. This substantial drop in the banking sector played a significant role in driving up the VIX.
Here goes the “50 Cent” story. One month ago, Barchart tweeted that “50 Cent” is back. No, not the rapper. The trader who became famous years ago is likely back with a huge volatility bet.

It is possible that a trader known as “50 Cent” is positioning themselves to profit from market volatility. This is typically done by purchasing Cboe Volatility Index options, which typically cost around 50 cents.
Barchart assumed that on Tuesday February 14, 2023 someone bought 100,000 $VIX May expiry 50 strike calls for $0.50. And two days later, another 50k contracts were bought for $0.51.
Let us look in the table below to see the current price of those call options as of last Friday’s close.
Source: cboe.com
The current market price stands at $0.76, reflecting a substantial increase of 52% compared to the purchase price of 50 cents in February.

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Intelligent trades!
Aibek BurabayevINO.com Contributor
Disclosure: This contributor has no positions in any stocks mentioned in this article. This article is the opinion of the contributor themselves. The above is a matter of opinion provided for general information purposes only and is not intended as investment advice. This contributor is not receiving compensation (other than from INO.com) for their opinion.

Business malpractices are pretty hard to be swept under the rug any longer. Moreover, pursuing positive changes has gripped the world recently as the world increasingly faces environmental and sustainability concerns.
Recently, ESG investments were pushed into the limelight after the Senate voted to overturn a Labor Department rule that permits fiduciary retirement fund managers to consider ESG factors in their investment decisions. President Joe Biden said that he would veto the bill when it reached his desk.
Republicans have criticized ESG as being “woke” capitalism and that it reflects liberal political beliefs. But what exactly is ESG? And how can one use it in investing? Let us delve deeper to answer these questions.
What Is ESG?
ESG stands for Environmental, Social, and Governance, which essentially refers to a certain set of rules a company must follow to comply with standards in the light of socially helpful issues such as climate change and sustainability.

Environmental: The ‘E’ in ESG takes care of the company’s responsibility toward the environment. The company’s operations that can impact the environment, like sourcing natural resources and waste disposal, also have the ability to impose financial risks. Companies that fail to take responsibility for the environment can face regulatory risks, prosecution, and loss of reputation, which can impact shareholder returns.
Social: The ‘S’ refers to social responsibility, encompassing companies’ interaction with their employees and in the community where their operations lie. DEI (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion) is a crucial component of the social factor. However, this factor is hard to measure as investors have to rely upon the information provided by management and distinct methodologies.
Governance: The ‘G’ implies the company’s governance and decision-making tactics. This reflects how company participants implement social and environmental values into policy making. This criterion relates to the assurance that a company is not engaged in unlawful activities that conflict with shareholders’ interests.
ESG Measurement: ESG activities can be objectively measured by an ESG score. MSCI rates companies on an AAA-CCC scale relative to the standards and performance of their industry peers, considering 10 themes and 35 key ESG issues. The MSCI model asks four key questions:

What are the most significant ESG risks and opportunities facing a company and its industry?
How exposed is the company to those key risks and/or opportunities?
How well is the company managing key risks and opportunities?
What is the overall picture for the company, and how does it compare to its global industry peers?

What Is ESG Investing?
Investors have turned toward ESG investing, sometimes called ‘impact’ or ‘socially responsible’ investing, to align their investments with good corporate citizenship and environmental sustainability.
Investing in companies that meet certain ESG criteria and make it part of their measure to operate as transparent firms has emerged as an excellent strategy. This type of investing combines seeking financial gains while bringing positive change to society.
The following chart shows some criteria that investors look into for ESG investing:
Source: www.forbes.com
The concept of ethics and beliefs as an investment strategy is nothing new. However, combined with Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and increased awareness, ESG investing has brought about a new dawn of social accountability. Moreover, investors have recognized the climate crisis as one of the biggest challenges the world is facing right now.
One of the reasons for investing in stocks with good ESG scores is that these companies can avoid blowups that a company faces for unethical practices. Also, these businesses tend to be largely followed by investment firms. However, ESG investors could leave out key defensive sectors like tobacco and defense as it does not align with their investment strategy.
What Kind of Impact Could ESG Investing Have on Your Portfolio?
Although companies that fail to live up to the standards of a good corporate face regulatory risks, no central authority enforces ESG criteria. However, socially conscious investors choose ESG stocks. Also, investing in sustainable companies could be financially rewarding.
On the other hand, some argue that companies that focus on ESG could do so at the expense of profits, leading to lower shareholder returns.
Additionally, ESG investing is still relatively new. Therefore, a comparative study of ESG companies to other companies is still inconclusive.

A team of experts at the MIT Sloan Sustainability Initiative stated that the ESG criteria, however flawed it may be at present, is the best way to measure transparency and corporate responsibility.
Morningstar has found that ESG funds are more resilient than traditional funds. They found that 77% of ESG funds that existed 10 years ago have survived, compared with 46% of traditional funds.
What Does the Future Hold for ESG Investing?
The top-down approach to ESG is expected to be flipped around in the modern internet age. “ESG 2.0” is characterized to be more data-driven, helping investors to make more informed decisions. Expectations about regulatory guidance ramping up on carbon emissions and other ESG attributes are also high.
Moreover, investors are becoming increasingly passionate about making a difference in the world. One poll by Domini Impact Investments shows that more than 50% of respondents would be willing to sacrifice performance on their investments to achieve ESG goals.
Encouraged by the commitment to fight climate change, the overall intent of U.S. investors is clear. According to a study, ESG Assets Under Management (AUM) in the United States would more than double, from $4.5 trillion in 2021 to $10.5 trillion in 2026.
The market is anticipated to open up more on ESG initiatives in the future, benefiting investors.
Best,The MarketClub Team[email protected]

Anyone who regularly watches or has only seen Jim Cramer’s TV show “Mad Money” even just once notices that the former fund manager, now a TV personality, makes a ton of stock recommendations while on air.
So many that it is hard to keep up with what companies he likes and which ones he would sell.
Luckily, you will now never have to worry about trying to keep track of his stock picks while he is on air. Two new Exchange Traded Funds will keep track of his stock picks for you and not only keep track of them but give you an accessible, one-stop investment vehicle you can use to follow his advice.
The Tuttle Long Cramer Tracker ETF (LJIM) buys stocks that Jim Cramer tells his viewers on “Mad Money” that he likes. The fund managers also follow Jim on Twitter, so if he tweets that he is optimistic about a stock, the fund can also track those picks. Furthermore, LJIM will also short stocks that Cramer expresses a negative opinion on.

LJIM began trading on March 2nd of, 2023, with an expense ratio of 1.2%. The fund already has over $254 million in assets. The top ten holdings represent 31% of the fund.
However, the fund prospectus explains that LJIM will have a portfolio of between 20 to 50 stocks.
Therefore, the heavy concentration will likely always be present with LJIM. Finally, the balance between each stock held is very close, with most holdings representing just slightly above or below the 3% mark.
The fund holds a very diverse group of stocks. The largest sector is technology, with 18% of assets. Then electronic technology makes up 14.78% of assets. Health technology, consumer services, and finance round out the top five sectors in LJIM.
LJIM is a worthy investment if you are a disciple of Jim Cramer and want to own the stocks he recommends to TV viewers and social media followers.
However, if you believe Jim Cramer is a hack and likes to hear himself talk, then the Tuttle Inverse Cramer Tracker ETF (SJIM) may be for you. SJIM is the short version of LJIM.
For example, when Jim Cramer recommends a stock, LJIM buys it. But SJIM would be shorting a stock that Jim Cramer likes. The opposite is also true. When Jim Cramer explains to his audience that he does not want a particular stock, LJIM would either sell it, or they may even short it. In that same scenario, SJIm would be going long a stock that Cramer says he does not like. And if Jim says he does not like something, SJIm would go long those stocks.
It is hard to deny that Jim Cramer is not a good investor. Watching just a few minutes of “Mad Money,” anyone can see that his knowledge of the stock market is next level.
However, because he makes so many picks, performing well on every stock he picks is very hard.

Furthermore, while Cramer is on TV, particularly live TV, Cramer has split seconds to decide whether the call-in investor should buy or sell a specific stock.
Lastly, because he has such a short time to decide, it is easy to see situations where Jim would miss a recently published news piece that is either pro or con a stock that Jim may be making a call on.
Because stock picking while on live TV is very difficult, investors should be cautious about which ETF mentioned they may want to own, the long or short version.
Remember this also, at this time, Cramer is an entertainer while on TV or in the Twitter world. There are not very many individual stock investors who outpace the market averages, let alone while trying to make split-second stock picks while also entertaining people.
So regardless which ETF you like more, be cautious.
Matt ThalmanINO.com ContributorFollow me on Twitter @mthalman5513
Disclosure: This contributor did not hold a position in any investment mentioned above at the time this blog post was published. This article is the opinion of the contributor themselves. The above is a matter of opinion provided for general information purposes only and is not intended as investment advice. This contributor is not receiving compensation (other than from INO.com) for their opinion.

While the price of gold (GLD) has been pummeled over the past month, it’s the silver price (SLV) that has taken the real beating.
This is evidenced by the industrial metal finding itself more than 18% off its recent highs, more than double the ~7% correction of gold in the same period.
The violent decline has pushed the price of silver back near $20.00/oz, which is only marginally above the average all-in cost to produce silver for primary producers, with this cost being all-in-sustaining costs plus growth capital and corporate G&A.
This is not ideal for the silver miners group, and especially not high-cost miners with $25.00/oz plus all-in costs that are now seeing negative margins for every ounce pulled out of the ground and processed on site.
The silver lining, though, is that if the silver price has declined to a point where growth is no longer incentivized, suggesting a steady decline in silver production if prices remain at or near these levels.

This obviously isn’t great for high-cost producers, but it is positive for those producers that will survive the short-term margin compression and are being thrown out with the bathwater.
In this update, we’ll look at two names that are trading at deep discounts to their historical multiples, and dig into their respective low-risk buy zones.
Avino Silver & Gold Mines (ASM)
Avino Silver & Gold Mines (ASM) is a ~$90 million silver producer that operates the Avino Mine in Durango, Mexico, which has more than a dozen named veins on the property and sits on the edge of a caldera.
The mine is unique given that it has silver, gold, and copper instead of just silver and gold like many primary silver mines, and it’s also unique in the sense that it is profitable despite a very small footprint, operating at a rate of barely 700,000 tonnes per annum, translating to production of 3.0 million ounces of silver per year dependent on grades.
Although Avino Silver & Gold Mines is a relatively small producer from a production and market cap standpoint and is a single-asset producer which I typically shy away from (single-asset producers can be higher-risk), the company has acquired a second project near its Avino Mine, La Preciosa, which has potential synergies with the ability to process material at the Avino Plant.
In addition, Avino has an Oxide Tailings Project just southwest of its Avino Mill facility. These two projects have the potential to increase the company’s annual production from 3.0 million ounces in 2023 to 7.0+ million ounces by 2028, giving Avino one of the best growth profiles sector-wide.
Obviously, one must be very careful when it comes to a micro-cap producer like Avino even if it is profitable at current silver prices with estimated operating costs of ~$16.50/oz.
However, with the stock now down sharply from its highs and getting closer to key support at $0.59 with a valuation of less than $0.30 per ounce of silver, we’re starting to see a margin of safety built into the stock.
So, if I were looking for a very speculative name to get exposure to silver, I would strongly consider buying ASM on any pullback below $0.59 where it has support, with the potential for a trade back towards the $0.90 – $1.00 level in the next 12 months.
Pan American Silver (PAAS)
Pan American Silver (PAAS) is one of the largest silver producers globally, with a market cap of ~$5.5 billion at a share price of $15.00 once its acquisition of Yamana Gold’s assets closes at quarter-end (an acquisition that’s been approved but has yet to close).
This recent deal is a game-changer for Pan American Silver gives that it gives the company added diversification (it adds 4 mines in South America, with one mine in a jurisdiction it already operates in: Argentina), and it lowers the company’s cost profile.
This is because Yamana is one of the lowest-cost producers globally, with all-in sustaining costs coming in at ~$1,000/oz in FY2022, below the industry average of $1,300/oz.
These two purely gold mines (Jacobina, Minera Florida) and two gold/silver mines (Cerro Moro, El Penon) owned by Yamana that will move into Pan American’s portfolio will complement the company’s Pan American’s mix of gold and silver mines in Mexico, Peru, Argentina, Canada, and Bolivia, with the combined company having no more than 25% of revenue exposure to any single country, a drastic improvement from much heavier concentration without Yamana Gold.
In addition, the combined company will benefit from more scale, with this often leading to a slight premium from a multiple standpoint given that producers with 1.0+ million ounce gold-equivalent profiles often trade at premiums to their smaller peers.
While we haven’t seen what the combined company will look like yet, we have a pretty good idea, with Pan American set to see a 50% increase in silver production per year and a ~100% increase in gold production, resulting in a production profile of ~1.1 million ounces of gold and 30 million ounces of silver, or the equivalent of more than 110 million silver-equivalent ounces per annum.
Importantly, this company will have higher margins this production profile excludes multiple development assets, including two world-class assets: Escobal and La Colorada Skarn.
These assets would provide a significant lift to output and without them in production, PAAS is receiving little value for them today.
So, what’s the opportunity?
Even without Yamana’s stronger assets, PAAS has historically traded at a cash flow multiple of 12.5, and I would argue that it could easily trade at 13.0x cash flow given the upgrade to its portfolio and the premium valuation that silver producers receive.
Based on conservative FY2023 cash flow per share estimates of $2.02, this translates to a fair value of $26.20, pointing to more than 70% upside from current levels.

This makes it one of the most undervalued silver producers and these assumptions are based on a conservative silver price of $21.00/oz for FY2023.
So, with the stock trading at a steep discount to fair value, I see this pullback to the $15.00 level (vs. a previous high above $32.00) as a gift, especially given the significant portfolio upgrade.
While most investors likely have little interest in buying silver miners when we’ve just seen a nasty rout in the silver price, this is often exactly the time to start nibbling on these names given that the best time to buy is when blood is in the streets.
At the current juncture, I don’t see most silver miners as cheap and I think we could still see lower levels.
That said, PAAS has underperformed materially and is one name that is cheap, and ASM would start to become more interesting below $0.59 given its large resource base and industry-leading growth profile.
So, if I were looking to diversify my portfolio with some materials exposure, I would view pullbacks below $15.00 in PAAS and $0.59 in ASM as opportunities to start new positions.
Disclosure: I am long PAAS
Taylor DartINO.com Contributor
Disclaimer: This article is the opinion of the contributor themselves. Taylor Dart is not a Registered Investment Advisor or Financial Planner. This writing is for informational purposes only. It does not constitute an offer to sell, a solicitation to buy, or a recommendation regarding any securities transaction. The information contained in this writing should not be construed as financial or investment advice on any subject matter. Taylor Dart expressly disclaims all liability in respect to actions taken based on any or all of the information in this writing. Given the volatility in the precious metals sector, position sizing is critical, so when buying small-cap precious metals stocks, position sizes should be limited to 5% or less of one’s portfolio.

Editor’s Note: Our experts here at INO.com cover a lot of investing topics and great stocks every week. To help you make sense of it all, every Wednesday we’re going to pick one of those stocks and use Magnifi Personal to compare it with its peers or competitors. Here we go…

The never-ending demand for more technology creates long-term growth trends for semiconductor businesses. In the short term, however, they are vulnerable to wider economic pressures – demand for chips will fall off as the economy slows down.
In fact, as far as the chip industry is concerned, the world is already in a recession.
For the past three decades, a globalized production model has created a series of semiconductor giants across the world. In other words, in this sector, bigger has been better. Despite recent struggles, the stocks of all the semiconductor companies market caps have at least doubled in the past five years.
Many on Wall Street believe investors are already starting to look beyond the prospect of a recession. The market is becoming more desensitized to negative estimate revisions, as the focus begins to shift towards signs of recovery.

So let’s look past the possible coming recession, and see what semiconductor designer stocks are the most attractive right now. To do that, we used Magnifi Personal’s Compare function to compare Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) and Nvidia (NVDA).
All we had to do was type in “Compare AMD and NVDA.”
To join in, ask for more details, or expand the search by asking something like “Compare AMD to its competitors,” just click here to get a free trial of Magnifi Personal.
Instead of having to pore over financial statements and earnings reports yourself, Magnifi Personal can do this kind of research for you. Here’s what it showed me when I asked it to “Compare AMD and NVDA.”

This is an example of a response using Magnifi Personal. This image is not a recommendation or individual advice. Please see bottom disclaimer for additional information, including INO’s relationship with Magnifi.
Now, Nvidia is the leading designer of graphics processing units (GPUs). These are essential for training machine learning models, as well as for the video game industry. The company also designs the cabling and software that connects GPUs with each other. In short, Nvidia covers the whole ecosystem needed to build the supercomputers that train AI models.
AMD, meanwhile, has become the leading designer of central processing units (CPUs). Its market share gains from the likes of Intel have been notable in the growing data center sub-sector. A 42% rise in sales for its data center segment helped drive company revenue up 16% in its latest quarter.
As you can see above, AMD and NVDA are fairly evenly matched. Both have been very volatile of late, and neither have generated great returns recently.
So we asked Magnifi Personal to add each stock’s Sharpe Ratio to the comparison. This is a standard and well-proven measure of how much extra return for each unit of added risk a given investment gets you. Generally speaking, a higher Sharpe Ratio means you’re getting more return for the risk you’re taking on.
Here’s the result Magnifi Personal showed us:

This is an example of a response using Magnifi Personal. This image is not a recommendation or individual advice. Please see bottom disclaimer for additional information, including INO’s relationship with Magnifi.
You can easily do this yourself, or ask Magnifi Personal to add other measures to the comparison, including dividend, valuation metrics such as P/E or P/B ratios, gross margin, and more. Just click here to see how to set up your Magnifi Personal account!

Now, as you can see in the screenshot above, once you include Sharpe Ratio in the comparison, Nvidia – the leader in GPUs – came out the clear winner.
Magnifi Personal makes visualizing these kinds of fundamental and financial statistics simple, making it easy to find new or better stocks for your portfolio. To get your Magnifi Personal account set up, free-of-charge, just click here!
Latest from Magnifi Learn: The Economy Isn’t Stopping Investors, 63% Plan to Invest More in 2023 than 2022. Americans are more optimistic than last year, new Magnifi survey finds.

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Twilio Inc. (TWLO) enables developers to build, scale, and operate real-time communications within software applications through a cloud communication platform and a customer engagement platform. The company operates both in the United States and internationally.
Over the past three years, TWLO’s revenues have increased at a 50% CAGR. Its total assets increased at a 34.6% CAGR during the same time horizon.
TWLO has adopted sweeping changes to improve the efficiency of its execution and accelerate its path to profitability. On February 13, the company announced its decision to reduce its workforce by approximately 17% to drive meaningful cost savings. To rationalize expenses further, on December 9, 2022, it announced its voluntary delisting from the Long-Term Stock Exchange (LTSE) to remain solely listed on the NYSE.
TWLO has also announced that, moving forward, it will operate two separate business units: Twilio Communications and Twilio Data & Applications. This strategic realignment enables Twilio to execute each business’s key priorities better.

TWLO’s management has expressed its confidence regarding the effectiveness of the abovementioned changes by announcing the authorization of a share repurchase program of up to $1.0 billion of its outstanding Class A common stock.
TWLO’s stock has gained 17.1% over the past month to close the last trading session at $73.88.
TWLO is trading above its 50-day and 200-day moving averages of $57.86 and $70.99, respectively, indicating an uptrend.
Here is what may help the stock maintain its performance in the near term.
Improving Financials
During the fourth quarter of the fiscal that ended December 31, 2022, TWLO’s revenue increased 21.6% year-over-year to $1.03 billion, while its non-GAAP gross profit increased 19.9% year-over-year to $517.78 million.
During the same period, the company’s non-GAAP operating income and non-GAAP net income attributable to common shareholders came in at $32.87 million and $41.05 million, compared to losses of $27.19 million and $36.26 million, respectively, in the prior-year quarter.
As a result, TWLO’s non-GAAP net income attributable to common shareholders came in at $0.22, compared to a loss of $0.20 per share in the previous-year quarter.
Favorable Analyst Estimates
For the first quarter of fiscal 2023, TWLO is expected to report a total revenue of $1 billion, up 14.2% year-over-year. During the same period, the company’s EPS is expected to come in at $0.21, compared to its muted performance during the previous-year quarter.
TWLO has impressed by surpassing consensus EPS estimates in each of its trailing four quarters.
For fiscal 2023, TWLO’s revenue is expected to increase 12.7% year-over-year to $4.31 billion, while its EPS is expected to come in at $1.25, compared to a loss per share of $0.15 during fiscal 2022.
Both revenue and EPS are expected to keep growing over the next two fiscal years.
Justified Valuation
Given the optimistic analyst expectations, TWLO is trading at a forward P/E of 58.89, a premium of 187.7% above the industry average of 20.47. Similarly, its forward EV/EBITDA and Price/Sales multiples of 19.32 and 3.21 are 46.3% and 15.2% above the respective industry averages of 13.21 and 2.79.
However, despite upward momentum in price and business performance, TWLO’s forward EV/Sales and Price/Book multiples of 2.53 and 1.39 also compare favorably to the respective industry averages of 2.84 and 3.81.
Technical Indicators Look Promising
MarketClub’s Trade Triangles show that TWLO has been trending UP for each of the three time horizons. The long-term trend has been UP since February 16, 2023, while the intermediate-term and short-term trends have been UP since January 13, 2023, and February 28, 2023, respectively.
Source: MarketClub
The Trade Triangles are our proprietary indicators, comprised of weighted factors that include (but are not necessarily limited to) price change, percentage change, moving averages, and new highs/lows. The Trade Triangles point in the direction of short-term, intermediate, and long-term trends, looking for periods of alignment and, therefore, strong swings in price.

In terms of the Chart Analysis Score, another MarketClub proprietary tool, TWLO scored +90 on a scale from -100 (strong downtrend) to +100 (strong uptrend), indicating that the uptrend will likely continue. Although TWLO remains in the confines of a bullish trend, traders should use caution and utilize a stop order.

The Chart Analysis Score measures trend strength and direction based on five different timing thresholds. This tool takes into account intraday price action, new daily, weekly, and monthly highs and lows, and moving averages.
Click here to see the latest Score and Signals for TWLO.
What’s Next for This Stock?
Remember, the markets move fast and things may quickly change for this stocks. Our MarketClub members have access to entry and exit signals so they’ll know when the trends starts to reverse.
Join MarketClub now to see the latest signals and scores, get alerts, and read member-exclusive analysis for over 350K stocks, futures, ETFs, forex pairs and mutual funds.
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Best,The MarketClub Team[email protected]

Since my last major update in November, the gold futures price has increased by almost 12%. At that time, most readers had chosen the bullish target of $2,089, where the price would retest the all-time high.
The gold futures chart is due for an update as it has reached a significant point in the current retracement following its recent peak at $1,975.
Source: TradingView
The gold futures price had been steadily rising for three months from the start of November until the beginning of February, where it reached a top of $1,975.
However, the market was hit when the “Jobs Report Dropped A Bombshell On The Markets”, which caused a significant drop in the value of many assets, including gold.

The recent price action in gold futures has been notable, marked by a sudden drop of $100 at the beginning followed by a slower decline in pace as the price retraced almost 50% and hit $1,811 by the end of February.
The question is whether this loss of half of the preceding rally is enough to consider the current bounce as a reversal.
In the chart above, two scenarios have been outlined for gold futures. The first scenario is represented by the blue CD segment, which suggests an immediate reversal in the straight move up, covering the same distance as the AB part. The target for this move is around $2,170.
In addition to the blue scenario outlined in the chart, there is another potential path marked with green annotations. This scenario suggests an extended retracement, with the current price growth seen as a temporary “dead cat bounce” that may lose momentum and lead to another leg down towards the 61.8% Fibonacci retracement level at $1,755. The RSI should fail or make a false break as it reached the crucial 50 level.
One observation that supports the green path is that retracements often take the same amount of time as the preceding move, and sometimes even exceed it in duration.
The current retracement reached only 1/3 of the preceding rally, which lasted for 61 bars. If we add another 61 bars to the blue B point, the green C2 point should not start until the beginning of May.
The potential for more aggressive Fed tightening also supports the green path, as the market could drop again if interest rates are raised close to 6%. The market may pause to wait for more jobs and inflation data, as the pace of these factors could provide more clues about the Fed’s rate peak.
The potential for a deeper pullback also implies a lower target for the green D2 scenario. In this case, the price may only reach the area of the previous all-time high, which is around $2,100, rather than surpassing it. This level was your winner of the November ballot.
Six years ago, in March 2017, a similar situation occurred in the gold chart, as I pointed out in my post titled “Gold & Silver: Half Is Enough?” The retracement at that time also reached 50%, and two scenarios were presented, just like in the current post.
In the following chart, you can see how it unfolded back in March 2017 and whether history could repeat itself.
Source: TradingView
In 2017, there were two potential scenarios for the gold chart retracement, similar to the current post.

The blue scenario saw the establishment of the C point at the 50% retracement level of the AB segment, followed by a straight rally up along the blue path, with the price surpassing the B point. While the rally showed promise, it stopped short at 73% of the projected target, reaching $1,297 instead of the expected $1,336.
However, in the unpredictable market, a rally that exceeds the B point and covers more than half of the projected path could be considered successful.
Looking back, we can adjust the markings on the chart, as I have done with black 1 and 2, to indicate the actual segments that occurred, including the red two-legged complex consolidation in between. Ultimately, black 2 traveled 91% of the distance covered by black 1, which confirms the updated black labeling.

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Intelligent trades!
Aibek BurabayevINO.com Contributor
Disclosure: This contributor has no positions in any stocks mentioned in this article. This article is the opinion of the contributor themselves. The above is a matter of opinion provided for general information purposes only and is not intended as investment advice. This contributor is not receiving compensation (other than from INO.com) for their opinion.