10 Gold Investments to Buy Now

Ten gold investments to buy now offer particularly good potential with the Federal Reserve’s easy-money policies, historically low interest rates and public statements by its chairman in favor of taking whatever measures are needed to support the economy during the public health crisis caused by the new coronavirus, named COVID-19.

Gold has risen by nearly 12.5% so far this year, in contrast to a pullback in stocks and silver, along with an 80% plunge in oil prices. The price of gold has climbed past $1,700 an ounce, and some observers are predicting it could reach $2,000 or higher next year.

Chart courtesy of www.YCharts.com

Barrick Gold (NYSE: GOLD), headquartered in Toronto, is up more than 50% in six weeks after its recommendation in the Five Star Trader advisory service led by Mark Skousen, PhD, an economist who serves as a Presidential Fellow at Chapman University. Skousen, named winner of the inaugural Triple Crown in Economics in 2018 and one of the 20 most influential living economists, recommended the gold mining stock and related call options on March 24.

Gold Investment to Buy Notches Gain of More than 200%

Skousen also advised selling half of the call options he recommended in Five Star Trader for a 118% gain on April 14 and another half of the remaining position for a return of more than 213% on May 5.  He further raised his stop price in GOLD to $25 a share on May 5 to prevent the double-digit-percentage gain from slipping away if the market pulls back.

Mark Skousen, PhD, center, receives the “Triple Crown of Economics” from media mogul Steve Forbes as economics professor Ken Schoolland takes a photo. Skousen leads advisory services that include Home Run Trader, Five Star Trader, TNT Trader and Fast Money Alert.
Photo credit: Paul Dykewicz

Toronto Mining Company Is One of 10 Gold Investments to Buy 

In 2019, the company produced 5.5 million ounces of gold, achieved profit margins above 40% and earned $4 billion on revenues of $9.7 billion. Skousen, who has written his monthly Forecasts & Strategies investment newsletter for the past 40 years, also noted that Barrick Gold has $3.3 billion cash to provide financial cushion to support its $5.5 billion in long-term debt.

TD Securities boosted its rating of Barrick Gold to a “buy” on April 1, when the brokerage set a price target of $28. It marked the latest in a series of upgrades that included one from Deutsche Bank on March 26 when it initiated a “buy” on Barrick Gold, with a price target of $25.

The stock quickly topped new price targets that were upgraded to $20 on March 17 by ScotiaBank GBM and to $22 on March 13 by UBS. Each increase in the price target accompanies a boost of the respective investment firm’s rating on Barrick Gold, which also offers a current dividend yield of 1.02%.

Chart courtesy of www.StockCharts.com

 10 Gold Investments to Buy Have Been Soaring in Past Year

“The best way of taking advantage of an anticipated rise in the price of gold is by owning a stock,” said Hilary Kramer, host of a national radio program called “Millionaire Maker” and head of the Value Authority and GameChangers advisory services.

Barrick Gold is a “very solid” mining company, said Kramer, who added that she was a little surprised to see how limited the prospects were when she was looking for a gold stock to recommend. However, gold has soared almost unrelentingly in the past year.

Paul Dykewicz interviews money manager Hilary Kramer, whose premium advisory services include 2-Day Trader, Turbo Trader, High Octane Trader and Inner Circle.

SPDR Gold Shares (NYSE:GLD), the largest exchange-traded fund on Wall Street that is backed by physical gold, is up 33.2% in the past year to far outperform stocks. The fund offers one of the easiest ways to invest in gold.

Chart courtesy of www.YCharts.com

10 Gold Investments to Buy Include Several Liked by Pension Fund Chairman 

“I like having a position in physical gold,” said Bob Carlson, chairman of the Board of Trustees of Virginia’s Fairfax County Employees’ Retirement System with more than $4 billion in assets. “I recommend owning it through iShares Gold Trust (IAU). It’s an ETF, so the investment is liquid. You can convert all or part of it into cash at any time and don’t have to worry about storage, insurance, etc.”

Chart courtesy of www.StockCharts.com

Carlson, who also leads the Retirement Watch advisory service, said investors who want to take a more speculative position with potentially higher return, but also bigger possible losses, should look at shares of gold mining companies, such as Barrick Gold and Newmont Corp. (NYSE:NEM). Another prospect is Franco-Nevada Corporation (NYSE:FNV), a gold royalty company.

Chart courtesy of www.StockCharts.com

Chart courtesy of www.StockCharts.com

Investors also could buy a managed, open-end gold mutual fund, Carlson said. The oldest is U.S. Global Investors Gold & Precious Metals Fund (USERX). But it invests in smaller mining companies and is riskier than if it focused on larger mining operators, he added. 

Chart courtesy of www.StockCharts.com

10 Gold Investments to Buy Now Feature a Gold Mining Fund

An alternative is an ETF, Van Eck Vectors Gold Miners (NYSE:GDX). It is the largest of the 11 ETFs that concentrate on gold mining company shares. It tracks a market-cap-weighted index of global gold-mining firms, but it also includes firms that that mine precious metals in addition to gold. As the largest ETF in the category, it is easy to trade, Carlson counseled.

Chart courtesy of www.StockCharts.com

Pension fund Chairman Bob Carlson answers questions from Paul Dykewicz during an interview before social distancing became the norm after the outbreak of COVID-19.

A variety of Federal Reserve Bank actions in recent weeks have helped to alleviate the liquidity crisis and will continue to do so, Carlson said. Demand for gold should be steady and will increase even as the economy recovers down the road, he added.

10 Gold Investments to Buy Now Confirmed by Market-Timing Indicator

Jim Woods, who leads the Successful Investing and Bullseye Stock Trader advisory services, said two of his favorite gold investments right now are iShares MSCI Global Gold Miners ETF (NASDAQ:RING) and Direxion Daily Gold Miners Index Bull 2X Shares (NYSE:NUGT). Both are recent recommendations in Successful Investing, which indicates that the time is now to be in gold but to hold back from buying domestic and international stocks in the wake of the fallout of the 30%-plus market crash in March.

Chart courtesy of www.StockCharts.com

Paul Dykewicz meets with Jim Woods to discuss the latest investment opportunities.

The Price of Gold Could Zoom to $3,000 an Ounce

Word from officials at mainstream institutions indicates that gold could zoom to $3,000 an ounce, said Rich Checkan, president and chief operating officer of Asset Strategies International, a full-service tangible asset dealer in Rockville, Maryland. The supply of retail, fabricated coins and bars is still weak as mints play catch-up with demand, he added.

Plus, premiums to buy gold remain “considerably high,” Checkan told me. Deliveries of physical gold investments are starting to flow a bit faster than when airlines shut down most of their flights upon the onset of the COVID-19 global pandemic but they still are “quite slow” compared to normal times, he added.

A problem with gold ETFs and futures contracts is there are typically more shares or futures contracts sold than there is gold to back it up, Checkan said. 

Rich Checkan, of Assets Strategies International, analyzes precious metals pricing.

10 Gold Investments to Buy Now Include Selected Coins

Gold offers investors an “island of safety” in uncertain times, said Van Simmons, who leads David Hall Rare Coins in Santa Ana, California. Fortunately, California is a state that has regarded coin dealers as “essential businesses” because they hold clients’ money for buying and selling gold. 

Chart courtesy of www.YCharts.com

Such sales may be necessary as people cope with challenging times due to the COVID-19 economic crisis that has forced more than 30 million people to file for unemployment benefits, driving the U.S. jobless rate above 18% since the pandemic hit America earlier this year. The number of cases and deaths worldwide due to the virus hit 3,727,864 and 258,340, respectively, on May 5. On that same date, America’s COVID-19 caseload totaled 1,237,633 with the death toll reaching 72,271. No other country in the world has nearly as many cases or deaths due to the virus.

As for coins to buy during the crisis, Simmons said he likes MS63–MS64 $20 Saint Gaudens, which were struck in 1907-1933. Simmons told me he favors those coins as a “bullion play.” 

Van Simmons, of David Hall Rare Coins, said many investors buy gold as an “island of safety.”

People seeking rising investments while the stock market remains volatile need look no further than gold right now. Gold is climbing in value, beating stocks handily and shining as brightly as the precious metal has in many years to sidestep market uncertainty and notch double-digit-percentage profits.

Paul Dykewicz, www.pauldykewicz.com, is an accomplished, award-winning journalist who has written for Dow Jones, the Wall Street Journal, Investor’s Business Daily, USA Today, the Journal of Commerce, Seeking Alpha, GuruFocus and other publications and websites. Paul is the editor of StockInvestor.com and DividendInvestor.com, a writer for both websites and a columnist. He further is the editorial director of Eagle Financial Publications in Washington, D.C., where he edits monthly investment newsletters, time-sensitive trading alerts, free e-letters and other investment reports. Paul previously served as business editor of Baltimore’s Daily Record newspaper. Paul also is the author of an inspirational book, “Holy Smokes! Golden Guidance from Notre Dame’s Championship Chaplain,” with a foreword by former national championship-winning football coach Lou Holtz. Endorsements for the book come from Joe Montana, Joe Theismann, Ara Parseghian, “Rocket” Ismail, Dick Vitale and others. Follow Paul on Twitter @PaulDykewicz.