Trying to protect your portfolio from a global market meltdown is a tough task. Indeed, with markets around the world looking for any excuse to fall, its almost impossible to find stocks that are immune from the selling.
Two stocks that have shown an impressive immunity to the markets manic depressive attitude however arePantheon Resources (LSE: PANR) andXtract Resources (LSE: XTR). Over the past year, while the FTSE 100 has slumped by 16%, Pantheon and Xtract have risen 434% and 157%, respectively. So do these resource minnows deserve a place in your portfolio?
Bucking the trend
Its a tricky time to be in the oil business. The oil market is oversupplied and at $28 a barrel, most producersare unable to make a profit. That said, Pantheon seems to be bucking wider market trends. The companysfirst oil well,VOBM#1 in East Texas,flow-tested at 1,500 barrels of oil equivalent per day and further testing shows that the well could exceed the pre-drill P50 prospective resource estimate of 1.4m barrels of oil equivalent. Unfortunately, the testing of Pantheons second onshore well,VOS#1 has been interrupted by a blockage, although initial testing showed that flow rates fromVOS#1 were consistent with the well being able to provide a mid-estimate total recovery of 3m barrels of oil equivalent.
And unlike many other US onshoreindependent oil and gas producers, Pantheons costs are extremely low, which means that the company can continue to turn a profit even with oil prices below $30 a barrel. According to the companys December corporate presentation, capital expenditure and operating expenditure for each well is expected to be less than $5 per barrel. Moreover, managementbelieves that operating costs per barrel could fall as low as $1 to $2 in the long term.
Still, its hard to value Pantheons shares at present as there are no City analysts covering the company. For this reason I would stay away for the time being.
Safe haven
Xtract has transformed itself into one of AIMs most exciting small businesses over the past year. The group has acquired a number of mining assets over the past 24 months, all of which are low-cost and expected to yield a return for Xtract within three to four years.
One such acquisitionis the Fair Bride mine. The deal cost Xtract $12.5m, although its estimated that the project will pay for itself within three years. Whats more, initial figures indicate that the project will generate a net cumulative cash flow of $82.4m. Anotherdeal is thejoint venture agreement with Mineral Technologies International Limited, which management expects will pay for itself in less than six months. Construction forthe joint venture isexpected to commence during the third quarter of 2016.
City analysts expect Xtract to report a pre-tax profit of 2.9m for full-year 2016, the companys first profit in more than five years. On a per share basis, forecasts suggest Xtract could earn 0.02p this year, which implies that the companys shares are trading at a forward P/E of 9. If everything goes to plan and Xtract meets City forecasts, thecompany could be a great long-term investment for your portfolio.
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Rupert Hargreaves has no position in any shares mentioned. The Motley Fool UK has no position in any of the shares mentioned. We Fools don’t all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors.
