Investors focused on larger companies saw their ups and downs in 2011. Rather than focus on the usual suspects, perhaps they should have been focused on antimony. It's an obscure -- and toxic -- element that has some appealing industrial applications such as flame retardants and in solder and ball bearings. Antimony helped micro-cap
U.S. Antimony Corp. (Nasdaq: UAMY) boost prospects, and the stock more than quadrupled in value in 2011.
The question for investors: Can this hot stock along with its other high-flying peers post new highs in 2012? Let's take a closer look at a group of micro-cap stocks that rose by at least 100% last year.
U.S. Antimony's gains present a typical challenge facing micro-cap investors. The company is so small, it's hard to grasp where the business may be headed and what it's worth. We know sales are rising at a 50% clip and may have exceeded $13 million in 2011. We also know a recent capital raise should help mining output climb even higher, perhaps toward $20 million this year (an educated guess, to be sure).
Still, with close to 60 million shares outstanding, the company's current market value is likely around eight times that possible 2012 sales rate. This is the kind of stock you'd need to spend a good bit of time researching further.
Other micro-caps don't make you work quite so hard just to glean an initial value assessment. Take consumer electronics retailers Conn's (Nasdaq: CONN) as an example. Last June, I noted the stock traded far below tangible book value and was due for a rebound. Shares have doubled since then, and the stock now trades just above book value. Surely, shares aren't the bargain they were back then.
In a similar vein, investors should forget about further gains for e-tailer Stamps.com (Nasdaq: STMP). In September 2011, I suggested shares could keep running on expectations that business would improve as more post offices were closed due to budget cutbacks.