Kinross Gold, along with most other miners (besides Agnico-Eagle who beat estimates), fell this month. The stock is now values almost 20% below book value and its dividend is climbing upwards to almost 2%. Not much has been made public regarding news but earnings are coming up this week and the annual meeting is on Wednesday, so I feel we’ll have a great idea of where the company is headed after next week.

Sentiment: Hold

My sentiment regarding this stock continues to be Hold.

The Vending machine contract signings are really gaining traction, growing from 250 2 years ago and 1400 last year to over 4500 today. This accounts for 17k vending machines throughout their customers. In addition, the company also began taking orders on a smaller vending machine (about 2/3 the size of the current one) with a smaller capacity for smaller companies.

My feeling is the company is continuing to grow and offer control and cost savings to their customers. This value-add will also help Fastenal keep prices as low as possible with more-efficient service measures. I look at this recent dip as a buying opportunity and will be reviewing this stock as a potential pitch for this month’s meeting.

EP Club voted and bought into Kinross Gold Corporation today at a commission adjusted cost of $9.42. We are excited to add this gold position to our portfolio and look forward to seeing some modest growth over the next 6 months.

From reuters:

Kinross Gold Corporation (Kinross) is engaged in gold mining and related activities, including exploration and acquisition of gold-bearing properties, the extraction and processing of gold-containing ore, and reclamation of gold mining properties. Kinross also produces and sells silver. Kinross’ gold production and exploration activities are carried out principally in Canada, the United States, the Russian Federation, Brazil, Ecuador, Chile, Ghana and Mauritania. The Company’s gold is produced in the form of dore, which is shipped to refineries for final processing. Kinross also produces and sells silver. The Company’s segments include Fort Knox, Round Mountain, Kettle River-Buckhorn, Kupol, Paracatu, Crixas, La Coipa, Maricunga, Tasiast and Chirano. As of December 31, 2011, Kinross’ total estimated proven and probable mineral were 62.6 million ounces of gold.

Charming Shoppes had an interesting month, reporting earnings on a wider than expected loss (by a 4 cent margin) caused the stock to drop significantly. However, Charming Shoppes made quick gains and jumped right back up after and even continued up until it reached a 52 week high.

They had beat their revenue on the recent earnings report.

EP Club will continue a hold on Charming Shoppes with a 15% trailing stop loss.

Grant

Heckmann has taken a tumble for us after we picked up this stock at $4.59. Some major news that came out with Heckmann that caused this drop was recently missing quarterly revenue and earnings and acquisition of Thermofluids, Inc (a used motor oil recycling company).

I believe that Heckmann is just becoming a victim of a bear market currently, and this speculation of purchasing this company and missing the revenue on the recent earnings report is having a more drastic affect on this stock than it should.

Never the less, I will be proposing a stop order on this stock tonight to protect our capital if it continues to fall.

Grant

Our Baidu, Inc. position sold today after a nice jump up to the limit we had set for $149.

Baidu, Inc. had a great run for us, we bought the position at a commission adjusted price of $127.73 on 1/25, selling at a commission adjusted price of $147.26.

EP recognizes a 15.2% gain on this stock in almost exactly two months, that is a very impressive annualized return of 91.2%.

Great job EP!

Grant

The club has added a $149 sell limit order onto our Baidu position.

We are looking to sell out of Baidu at this price and recognize a 17% gain.