re: Oil, Copper and Iron Down, How far will they go? What stocks to get?

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I've been looking at FCX as well. Around $19 now. Most analyst say its 12 month target is around 40. Lower P/E ratio and pays a decent dividend. Anyone buying
this stock now and holding. If not now, why not , and when would you get in?

Just wanted y'all's opinion. Thanks.

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No, you should DEFINITELY wait until the price goes back up in a stable trend.

First of all, just because a stock is trading near its 52wk low does not mean it is going to rise next month. The price of FCX has been in a steady downward trend since Dec 27, 2010. Ask yourself - how many times has the share price traded near its 52wk low in the past 4 years?

Second, the low P/E ratio of 8.95 creates the appearance of the stock being undervalued. But P/E ratio does not take debt into consideration. It turns out that FCX has approximately $20 billion in debt! Are they earning money fast enough to pay it off within the time frame you plan to hold the stock?

And that leads us to the third point - why does FCX have so much debt? It's because they recently spent billions acquiring and expanding copper, iron, and oil mining operations. You know, the types of mines that produce the materials the OP was complaining about having no value. How will they pay off their massive debt when most of their revenue comes from commodities that have downtrending prices?