Freeport McMoran Copper (FCX) is a miner of copper, gold and molybdenum. It has operations in North and South America, Indonesia and Africa, and competes with other miners such as the Southern Copper (SCCO), Codelco and Newmont Mining (NEM).

Newmont Mining (NEM) is primarily a gold producer with significant assets or operations in the United States, Australia, Peru, Indonesia, Ghana, Canada, New Zealand and Mexico. Newmont Mining competes with other international gold producers like Barrick Gold (ABX), AngloGold Ashanti (AU) and Goldcorp (GG).

Launch of Coverage on Newmont Mining; $80.90 Price Estimate

We recently launched coverage on Newmont Mining with an $80.90 price estimate for the company's stock. Our number stands roughly 35% above market price.

Newmont Mining (NEM), first discussed here on June 3, 2009, at a price of $46.42, retreated slightly in late 2010 after pushing through $65, but that may be viewed as opportunity to consider the shares, if you missed the June 2009 entry point.

Newmont has the right commodities for globalization's third decade: copper and gold. However, it's not a stock for squeamish or low-risk investors: Newmont's stock practically defines uptrend volatility. Therefore, if you're looking for a steady, predictable, staircase north, it's probably best to skip NEM.

Put volume skyrocketed Tuesday on Newmont Mining (NEM), with roughly 22,000 contracts crossing the tape within the first 90 minutes of the session. By contrast, NEM was only expected to see about 1,800 puts change hands -- so this surge represents about 12 times the norm.

The equity's November 60 put is far and away the most active. By 11 a.m., this out-of-the-money strike had already seen in excess of 13,200 contracts exchanged, with 59% of these puts trading at the ask price. Implied volatility on this back-month option has climbed by 2.6 percentage points to 35.2%, so it seems likely that buyers are driving the bulk of today's volume.

When gold miners and gun-toters lag the broader economy, it's usually a good sign that conditions are on the mend. Both sectors outperform when times were tough, but this year, their growth has slowed relative to the market has a whole.

The S&P 500 index has gained 57% since March 9, 2009, according to a USA Today report, while Barrick Gold (NYSE: ABX) and Newmont Mining (NYSE: NEM) are up 36% and 21%, respectively, for the same period. Smith & Wesson (NASDAQ: SWHC) is up 30%. Again, these are definitely respectable results, but they aren't keeping pace with the index.

Despite the U.S. stock market's recent run up, the decline in the U.S. dollar and inflation fears have investors searching for safety in these uncertain times. A popular strategy that has emerged is to hedge market and currency risk with commodities, namely gold, oil, and uranium. What specific stocks and investments in these sectors are likely to outperform?

ETFs like the US Oil Fund (NYSE: USO) and the SPDR Gold Shares (NYSE: GLD) will obviously track any rise or fall in these commodities to a T, but perhaps individual companies in these sectors are a better fit for you. Below are some industry giants, as well as speculative plays that are also drawing attention from investors.

Just after the close yesterday, Newmont Mining (NYSE: NEM) guided up 2009 production and guided 2009 cash costs lower. NEM also announced that it would be purchasing the remaining interest in its majority owned Boddington Mine from Anglogold Ashanti (NYSE: AU) (which equates to 6.6 mln reserve ounces). That's an increase of 8 percent in NEM's Proven & Probable (P&P) reserves at a price tag of $1.2 bln, which will be raised via an equity offering of 19 mln shares.

Based on NEM's 441 mln shares outstanding, we're looking at dilution of just over 4 percent. Thus, in theory, the deal is not even dilutive, given the 8 percent increase in P&P reserves that the company is acquiring with only a 4 percent dilution in equity. Based on what I have seen so far, this looks like a spectacular deal for NEM.

This post was written by Minyanville contributor Lance Lewis.

Banro (NYSE: BAA) jumped 13% yesterday after the company announced that it had finally completed its bankable feasibility study on its Twangiza project and proved up nearly 4 mln ounces of its 10 mln ounce resource. Thus, we can now calculate an NAV for BAA.

BAA has no debt. So, assuming $1,000 gold, 3.67 mln ounces of Proven & Probable reserves, an average cash cost of $429 per ounce over the life of the mine (which is based on the feasibility study), and the estimated $410 mln required for cap ex, we get an NAV of almost $15 a share (which gives zero value to the company's current cash balance of around $20 mln and its remaining 5.6 mln ounce resource at Twangiza, not to mention the resource estimates at its other properties).

Was the optimism observed in last week's preview post rewarded? Well, as it turned out there were few negative surprises from the companies listed there, really just Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (NYSE: AMD) and narrow misses from Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) and Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ: MSFT).

Again this week, in a list of earnings expectations for some prominent companies in a variety of sectors, we see an apparent optimism. That is, analysts are anticipating more earnings growth than earnings declines.

Analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial expect the following companies to report a rise in earnings when compared to the same period of the previous year.

• Newmont Mining Corp. (NYSE: NEM): $0.48 EPS (50.0%) on sales of $1.5 billion (+15.7%)
• Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN): $0.26 EPS (26.9%) on sales of $4.0 billion (+37.1%)
• Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE: CAT): $1.54 EPS (19.5%) on sales of $12.7 billion (+11.7%)
• McDonald's Corp. (NYSE: MCD): $0.86 EPS (17.4%) on sales of $5.9 billion (-1.5%)
• ConocoPhillips (NYSE: COP): $3.41 EPS (15.0%) on sales of $198.6 billion (+319.3%)
• Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL): $1.08 EPS (14.8%) on sales of $7.4 billion (+36.0%)
• Halliburton Co. (NYSE: HAL): $0.68 EPS (11.8%) on sales of $4.3 billion (+13.7%)
• Texas Instruments Inc. (NYSE: TXN): $0.46 EPS (8.7%) on sales of $3.4 billion (-1.1%)
• Yahoo Inc. (NASDAQ: YHOO): $0.12 EPS (8.3%) on sales of $1.4 billion (+10.5%)
• AT&T Inc. (NYSE: T): $0.76 EPS (7.9%) on sales of $31.2 billion (+5.7%)
• PepsiCo Inc. (NYSE: PEP): $1.02 EPS (7.8%) on sales of $10.5 billion (+9.4%)
• Anheuser-Busch Companies Inc. (NYSE: BUD): $0.93 EPS (6.5%) on sales of $4.7 billion (+4.2%)
• Pfizer Inc. (NYSE: PFE): $0.54 EPS (22.2%) on sales of $11.5 billion (+3.5%)
• 3M Co. (NYSE: MMM): $1.35 EPS (8.9%) on sales of $6.7 billion (+9.0%)
• Merck & Co. (NYSE: MRK): $0.83 EPS (1.2%) on sales of $6.0 billion (-1.2%)