Coal stocks showing gains

In a tough tape on Friday Coal related stocks performed above average and look to continue to run with profitable expectations growing. Massey Energy (MEE), Alpha Natural Resources (ANR) and Arch Coal (ACI) all have rising earnings expectations and are at 52 week highs. Just this past Monday, a broker, David Khani from FBR Capital Markets raised his price guidance for coal for next couple of years.

Massey Energy had a 1.48% increase on Friday when the S&P 500 fell 3%. This heavily covered producer of coal has had their current year earnings estimates increased for the current quarter from 0.50 to 0.76 in the past 90 days. The 13 analysts that cover the stock have also raised the yearly earnings estimates. The yearly earnings estimates have risen from 1.96 to 2.97 in the same 90 day period. Revenue is expected to increase 16% in the current quarter and 23.6% in the next quarter.

Coal ETF is getting hot

The new Coal ETF launched in Jan '08 is getting real hot these days. More about the COal ETF here:

Market Vectors Coal (KOL), as you might guess from the name, tracks an index made up of 60 companies involved in the mining or transportation of coal, manufacture of coal mining equipment and the production of clean coal.

The most heavily weighted components of the index are China Coal Energy Co. (based in Hong Kong, 8.1%), Consol Energy Inc. (CNX, 8.1%), and Bumi Resources (based in Indonesia, 8%). The United States is the most heavily represented country in the index, at 39.6%. Hong Kong is 24% and Indonesia is 11%. More breakdowns are available on the index's fact sheet.