Rare Earth Minerals
Shares in Rare Earth Minerals (LSE: REM) have delivered something of a rollercoaster ride in 2014, being up as much as 218% and down as much as 33% during the year. Indeed, volatility isn’t showing any sign of disappearing, with Rare Earth Minerals being up 5% today.
A key reason for such volatility is changing sentiment, with the market switching between bullish and bearish viewpoints depending on the volume of news flow and whether it looks as though the company could be en route to more exploration success.
On this front, Rare Earth Minerals has seen its share price increase by around 20% in the last two weeks due to its discovery of rare earth elements in Greenland, with the results from samples exceeding its expectations. Certainly, this is good news for the company, but whether further share price gains will materialise depends solely upon known unknowns regarding its future news flow. For now, though, the bulls are in the ascendancy and positive sentiment could push shares higher in the short run.
Petropavlovsk
2014 has not been a good year for gold miners such as Petropavlovsk (LSE: POG). That’s because the price of gold has disappointed and has been a contributory factor in the company’s share price falling by a whopping 66% year-to-date. Russian sanctions have also caused sentiment to weaken, as Petropavlovsk operates in the Amur region of the country.
However, investors seem to be warming to the company’s latest drive to cut costs, with shares in Petropavlovsk rising by 9% today. Indeed, refinancing remains a major concern for the business and, as a result, it is considering the sale of periphery assets that could help to conserve capital and lower its cost base.
With Petropavlovsk being loss making and its finances seemingly in a challenging position, sentiment could easily turn negative. This means that, while they are up strongly today, shares in the company could come under pressure moving forward.
Restore
Having risen by 54% in 2014, it may seem as though Restore (LSE: RST) is due a pullback. However, the document storage company could have much further to go and sentiment remains very favourable, with the stock up 3% today.
Indeed, Restore is set to grow the bottom line by a hugely impressive 39% next year and, while shares in the company trade on a hefty price to earnings (P/E) ratio of 20.4, their price to earnings growth (PEG) ratio of just 0.5 indicates growth is on offer at a very reasonable price.
Furthermore, with a high proportion of recurring revenue, Restore could deliver a highly visible earnings profile moving forward. This mix of strong, but yet consistent, growth could prove to be a potent combination.