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Gold/Silver/Copper Price Drop Is Actually VERY Good For Small-Cap Stocks

Posted by AGORACOM at 8:42 PM on Monday, August 11th, 2008

Gold got whacked today and finished at $US 820/oz, its lowest point of the year. I actually think know this is a good thing for small-cap gold stocks. Why? Gold’s move above $1,000 was largely based on a US economic catastrophe caused by one or a combination of the following:

  • Banking Failures
  • Real Estate Crash
  • Inflation
  • Stock Market Crash
  • The Village People Reuniting (Would Have Taken Markets Back To 1978 Levels…aaaaaah!)

Any one of these events would have been good for gold prices but terrible for stocks of junior gold companies. After all, if the market is crashing south of the border, would you be buying blue-chip stocks, let alone juniors? The answer is no.

Thus, $1,500 gold and a crushed stock market is in very few people’s best interest. If you need any further proof of this, just take a look at the carnage in the junior metals sector over the past 6 months. Sky-high commodity prices were simply no match against the threat of a possible market collapse.

On the other hand, today’s drop in gold was based on renewed confidence in the US markets over the past several days. The US still has a boatload of problems to deal with and any one of them could still turn ugly – but for now people are feeling as if the US can navigate the rough seas without sinking.

CONCLUSION:

At the end of the day, investors in gold/silver/copper and other precious metal stocks are better off with prices at $750/$14.50/$3.50 and a stable US stock market. This provides the markets with the best of both worlds – economic commodity prices and panic free stock markets.

Spread the word…happy days are coming back to the junior metals markets.

Regards,
George

Posted in All Recent Posts, Gold $2,000, Small and Micro-Cap Space, US Economy | 3 Comments »

Aurelian Shareholder Revolt On AGORACOM Makes Calgary Herald

Posted by AGORACOM at 7:23 AM on Friday, August 8th, 2008

The shareholder revolt at Aurelian Resources continues to gain momentum, with the Calgary Herald picking up the story today.

Hats off to Aurelian shareholders for showing the world how a stock discussion community can be used in a powerful and constructive manner.

Regards,
George

Posted in AGORACOM News And Events, All Recent Posts, Aurelian Resources Revolt, Online Investor Relations, Small and Micro-Cap Space, Web 2.0, 3.0, ... | 1 Comment »

Aurelian Shareholder Revolt On AGORACOM Makes Financial Post

Posted by AGORACOM at 9:37 AM on Thursday, August 7th, 2008

The shareholder revolt at Aurelian Resources is picking up an incredible amount of steam, with Peter Koven at the Financial Post covering the story today. Here is a snapshot of the story, which is a great read:

…….continue reading full story here.

Hats off to Peter and FP for covering the importance of this story and the important role of online shareholder communities. Until AGORACOM came along, online stock discussion forums were overrun by spam, profanity, bashing, hyping and flaming. Our Web 2.0 model of combining a reputation system with Wiki and IGC tools (Investor Generated Content) has eliminated 95% of the noise while maximizing constructive and informative discussion.

Hats off to Aurelian shareholders for showing the world how a stock discussion community can be used to enrich investors.

Regards,
George

Posted in AGORACOM News And Events, All Recent Posts, Aurelian Resources Revolt, Online Investor Relations, Small and Micro-Cap Space, Web 2.0, 3.0, ... | 1 Comment »

Prediction Comes True: Small-Cap Shareholder Activism Has Arrived – Aurelian Resources Shareholders Revolt

Posted by AGORACOM at 9:11 AM on Thursday, August 7th, 2008

On September 7th 2007, I posted a story on this blog titled “The Empowerment Of Online Investors – It’s Here For Good”. In that story, I stated the following:

“What does this mean for small-cap and micro-cap CEO’s?

Online investors have almost as much power as you do when it comes to the future
of your company. Unhappy investors are no longer relegated to the vacuum of “harsh”
e-mail and letters to express their discontent. Today, investors can rally in short order
via video, blogs and online forums to challenge you at your next AGM, oust you from
your position or even elect their own slate of directors.

In fact, not only is this possible, I’ll go as far as predict it will actually happen in the
next 12-24 months as investors make Web 2.0 a part of their daily investing lives.
I’m the biggest proponent of great small-cap and micro-companies but we all know
there are still many companies out there deserving of being the first target of an online
shareholder revolt – and I’ll be the first to applaud it.”

APPLAUDING SHAREHOLDERS OF AURELIAN RESOURCES

Well, here we are just 11 months later and the first real small-cap revolt is on courtesy of the shareholders of Aurelian Resources. Moreover, AGORACOM is the vehicle allowing shareholders to unite. A proud moment for us indeed.

I said I would be the first to applaud it, so bravo to all of you for your efforts. True to my word, I want to congratulate “The Informed, Educated Aurelian Resource Investors” group for its activism efforts.

By amalgamating all shareholders for the purpose of educating, communicating, sharing and analyzing all aspects of this potential acquisition, you have given yourself the opportunity to generate greater shareholder value through:

* Rejection of this offer
* Sweetening of the current offer
* Attracting a better offer

This ordeal is long from over, so don’t give up. Continue to push for a better deal if the majority of you truly believe the Kinross offer is insufficient ….and let AGORACOM know if there is anything further we can do to help the cause.

Best Regards,
George, Paul and the AGORACOM Team

Posted in AGORACOM News And Events, All Recent Posts, Aurelian Resources Revolt, Small and Micro-Cap Space, Web 2.0, 3.0, ... | 1 Comment »

Small-Cap (Canada) CEO Lesson – Canadian Internet Access Is Huge and Growing

Posted by AGORACOM at 8:14 PM on Monday, July 28th, 2008

If you are a Canadian Small-Cap CEO that still doubts the power of the web as your primary IR tool, then consider the following facts released by eMarketer very carefully:

1] More than 22 million Canadians will access the Internet regularly in 2008, over 67% of the nation’s total population.

2] Over the next four years, user numbers will rise by about 1.5 million annually, passing 25 million in 2012, when penetration will reach almost 73%.


3] Broadband is more prevalent in Canada than in many other countries, including the US. Broadband penetration is also growing more quickly than the online population.

All of this data prompted Karen Von Abroms, Senior Analyst at eMarketer and author of this report to say:

“The combination of a relatively small population and the country’s large
size may encourage Canadians to make the most of online communications.”

CONCLUSION

You have an entire nation with a vivacious appetite for consuming online content. Their consumption is not selective. Canadians will search, research, communicate, purchase and invest through the web. As such, your audience currently stands at 22,000,000 + potential investors and growing by 1,500,000 new potential investors per year. Moreover, when it is all said and done, 75% of this audience will be consuming rich content (video, audio, webcasts, podcasts, etc.) via brodband.

If you don’t think 22,000,000 – 25,000,000 potential investors warrant your immediate attention, sorry for the interruption. You can now return to your previously scheduled, old-fashioned, outdated IR strategy that is going to leave you sucking the wind of Canadian listed companies that built their IR strategy around an online strategy.

We are in the midst of an unstoppable shift in communications. Companies that adopt a long-term strategy to Target, Amalgamate, Communicate and Convert potential investors via the web will win and win big. Companies that fail to do so will find themselves out of touch, out of favour and too far behind an insurmountable gap.

Regards,
George

Hat tip to Tech Blogger, Mark Evans, who first covered the article.

Posted in AGORACOM News And Events, All Recent Posts, Online Investor Relations, Small and Micro-Cap Space, Small-Cap CEO Lessons | 2 Comments »

AGORACOM Small-Cap Content and Branding On GlobeInvestor.com Front Page

Posted by AGORACOM at 1:37 PM on Tuesday, July 15th, 2008

GlobeInvestor.com and ReportOnBusiness.com are the online business and investing arm of the Globe & Mail, Canada’s national newspaper. That is significant because GlobeInvestor brings in about 950,000 unique visitors per month, though we’ve heard the number is bigger.

As some of you know, AGORACOM has been the exclusive provider of small-cap resources and energy content to Globe for several months now, including a gateway from the front page of both GlobeInvestor and ReportOnBusiness.

However, as AGORACOM continues to grow and gain a wider global audience of investors, bloggers and media, it’s important to repeat it on our blog every once in a while. To keep it fresh, I’ve included images with links.

Have to admit a certain amount of pride to know that little ol’ AGORACOM is making its mark with the biggest and most respected name in Canadian business media.

Regards,
George

FRONT PAGE – GLOBE INVESTOR




FRONT PAGE – REPORT ON BUSINESS (ENERGY)


Posted in AGORACOM News And Events, All Recent Posts, Small and Micro-Cap Space, Small-Cap Helpful Links | 1 Comment »

AGORACOM Surveys Over 850 Small-Cap Resource Investors

Posted by AGORACOM at 8:51 PM on Wednesday, July 9th, 2008


[NOTE – Though Some Data Is Specific To The Resources Industry, online research and usage data is applicable to all small-cap companies]

Throughout the first half of 2008, AGORACOM surveyed over 850 small-cap retail investors at each of the following 4 major resources conferences:

  • Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada (PDAC)
  • Cambridge Conference Vancouver (January)
  • Cambridge Conference Vancouver (June)
  • Cambridge Conference Calgary

The purpose of the survey was to gain further insight into the online investing, research and community habits of small-cap and micro-cap investors. The surveys were conducted offline by design to avoid skewing of the results.

This survey represents a continuing series of surveys from each of these events since January of 2007. The results from each individual conference are posted on the AGORACOM blog within 30 days. In addition, the consolidated survey results are posted to our blog in early July. Both the individual and consolidated survey results can be found on the AGORACOM blog for you to review.

Given the speed at which the internet is moving and impacting investor relations, the results of these surveys are invaluable to CEO’s and investor relations departments of small-cap and micro-cap metals and mining companies across North America.

This is especially true for companies headed by older, less agile management teams that continue to overemphasize the value of traditional investor relations and under estimate the importance of online investor relations. Investors of such companies should also take note of these results and relay them to management.

AGORACOM has always understood the power and cost-efficiencies of search engine marketing, community building and multi-media communications. However, in order to go beyond theory and bias, we had to objectively prove it via empirical evidence.

SURVEY RESULTS

Upon reviewing the results and comparing them to 2007, we can unequivocally conclude that online research, collaboration and discussion are heavily utilized by small-cap investors and dramatically increasing. Frankly, the results were more dramatic than even we imagined and clearly point to the overwhelming need for an online IR strategy that goes beyond your website.

With approximately 850 investors surveyed, we were able to extract some extremely valuable information that will be of great importance to small-cap and micro-cap companies. The information will have different implications for each one of you, depending on your primary metal/mineral, market capitalization and online strategy. As such, though I’ve provided some tertiary comments following some of the results below, the final analysis will be your own. To this end, we’re happy to provide you with the following results:

HIGHLIGHTS

  • 81% of Investors Prefer Small-Cap Resource Companies over Large-Cap.
  • 48.4% of Investors were most Bullish on Gold compared to other minerals and metals.
  • 73% of Investors Conduct the Majority of their Research (75%+) into New Stocks Online. This is a dramatic 18.65% increase over 67% of respondents in 2007 and serves as proof positive that an online investor relations program is critical if you want to reach new investors.
  • 48% of Investors Conduct All of their Research (95%+) into New Stocks Online. No online IR program means you immediately miss out on 48% of all investors.
  • 60% of Investors Use Discussion Forums For Information and/or Research.

  • AGORACOM brand recognition amongst retail investors has risen by 360% over the same period last year. With 95% of our market budget allocated online, we are an actual case study about the power of online marketing to small-cap investors.

(more…)

Posted in AGORACOM News And Events, All Recent Posts, Online Investor Relations, Small and Micro-Cap Space, Surveys | 3 Comments »

AGORACOM Surveys Online Research Habits Of Investors At Vancouver Cambridge Conference 2008 (Summer)

Posted by AGORACOM at 6:12 PM on Wednesday, July 9th, 2008

AGORACOM is pleased to once again provide the results of our small-cap retail investor survey from the Vancouver Cambridge Conference held on June 15-16, 2008.

The results of this survey are invaluable to small-cap metals and mining companies across North America.

Given the speed at which the internet is moving and impacting investor relations, one of the most important things we continue to accomplish at the conference is surveying investors in order to better understand their online habits and preferences.

In comparing these results to 2007, we can unequivocally conclude that online research, collaboration and discussion have increased dramatically. Frankly, the results were more dramatic than even we imagined and clearly point to the overwhelming need for an online IR strategy that goes beyond your website.

AGORACOM Surveys Over 1,000 Investors In 2008

In addition to both Vancouver Cambridge Conferences, AGORACOM also surveys investors across the country at different events including PDAC in Toronto and the Calgary Cambridge Conference.

Response to the surveys has been overwhelmingly positive from executives that have found the information to be incredibly helpful.

We post the results from each individual conference within 30 days on the AGORACOM blog. In addition, we post the consolidated survey results every summer. Both the individual and consolidated survey results can be found on the AGORACOM blog for you to review.

AGORACOM SURVEY RESULTS – 2008 VANCOUVER CAMBRIDGE CONFERENCE

With approximately 100 investors surveyed at the Vancouver Cambridge Conference (June conference), we were able to extract some extremely valuable information that will be of great importance to all of us. The information will have different implications for each one of you, depending on your primary metal/mineral, market capitalization and online strategy. As such, though I’ve provided some tertiary comments following each of the results below, the final analysis will be your own. To this end, we’re happy to provide you with the following results:

Highlights

  • 86% of Investors Surveyed Prefer Small-Cap Resource Companies over Large-Cap.
  • 79.5% of Investors Surveyed Do the Majority of their Research (75%+) into New Stocks Online. This is a dramatic 18.65% increase over 67% of respondents in 2007 and serves as proof positive that an online investor relations program is critical if you want to reach new investors.
  • 55.9% of Investors Surveyed Do All of their Research (95%+) into New Stocks Online. No online IR program means you immediately miss out on 56% of all investors.
  • 62.4% of Investors Surveyed Use Discussion Forums For Information and/or Research. This represents a 14.8% increase over 54.4% of respondents in 2007 and further supports our contention that you need to take control of your message online, or risk having it taken from you by potentially unscrupulous investors.

  • Almost Half the Investors Surveyed (48%) were Bullish on Gold compared to other minerals and metals.
  • AGORACOM brand recognition amongst retail investors has risen by 360% over the same period last year. With 95% of our market budget allocated online, we are an actual case study about the power of online marketing to small-cap investors.

(more…)

Posted in AGORACOM News And Events, All Recent Posts, Online Investor Relations, Small and Micro-Cap Space, Surveys | Comments Off on AGORACOM Surveys Online Research Habits Of Investors At Vancouver Cambridge Conference 2008 (Summer)

AGORACOM Lands Front Page Of AOL Finance Canada

Posted by AGORACOM at 10:00 AM on Wednesday, July 9th, 2008

Good morning to you all. As many of you know, AGORACOM has been an exclusive provider of small-cap content to AOL Finance Canada since 2003. However, until recently, we’ve only resided behind the “AOL Wall” serving AOL paying members.

Now that AOL has taken down the wall and moved to its free model, our content is fully available to all AOL members and AOL has seen it fit to reward us with front page placement.

This is great news for AGORACOM but even better news for both our clients and the entire small-cap industry. Our clients will have the benefit of reaching a far larger audience when they release important news, while the entire small-cap space benefits from significantly greater visibility.

I have to add that I’m impressed with the Web 2.0 direction in which AOL Finance is moving, a dramatic improvement over their previous offering.

The re-design is paying off in a big way. In the U.S., AOL Finance has now surpassed both Yahoo and MSN in terms of both unique visitors and page views. The Canadian side hasn’t implemented all of the new tools from the U.S. side but it should only be a matter of time.

In the meantime, if Marty Moe is reading this, we’re ready to become a small-cap partner on the U.S. side when you are!

Regards,
George

Posted in AGORACOM News And Events, All Recent Posts, Online Investor Relations, Small and Micro-Cap Space | Comments Off on AGORACOM Lands Front Page Of AOL Finance Canada

AGORACOM Named Top 10 Online Financial Analysis Tool

Posted by AGORACOM at 12:56 PM on Wednesday, July 2nd, 2008

banners-financial-tool

The good folks over at Financial Modeling Guide have seen it fit to name AGORACOM to their list of Top 10 Most Innovative Online Financial Tools For Investors. We were selected along with some pretty good company (as seen above) for the following reason:

“We have selected these sites as they have each managed to come up with a cutting edge, innovative product that enables financial analysis or discussions with other investors around all types of asset classes, including stocks, bonds, forex and funds.“

Thanks to Retha, Michelle and Daniel for taking the time to compile this list and find us worthy of inclusion. We’ll be sure to continue adding innovative products that enable great analysis and discussions amongst investors.

Regards,
George

Posted in AGORACOM Awards, AGORACOM News And Events, All Recent Posts, Small and Micro-Cap Space | 2 Comments »

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