Interactive Investor

My favourite FTSE 100 mining stock for 2022

29th December 2021 16:46

by Lee Wild from interactive investor

Share on

After getting his large-cap mining tip right yet again in 2021, we asked broker SP Angel’s mining analyst John Meyer to give us his tip for the year ahead. He believes this high-flier will report phenomenal results in 2022.

Lee Wild, Head of Equity Strategy, interactive investor: Hello. With me today I’m lucky to have John Meyer, mining analyst at broker SP Angel. Every year, we ask you to pick your favourite large cap miner for the year ahead, and you’ve picked the top stock for the past two years.  Now, 12 months ago, you went for Glencore (LSE:GLEN). Well, I’m pleased to say that Glencore outperformed the other London-listed miners by miles.  At the time of writing, it’s up 85% in one year. Next best is Anglo American (LSE:AAL) – up a more modest 33%. Now, you also liked Antofagasta (LSE:ANTO), which is up 29%, but we’re all eager to know which one you think would do better than the rest in 2022.

John Meyer, mining analyst at broker SP Angel: I still like Antofagasta. It’s a good stock and it’s the purest copper play in the London market, but it’s pretty well-valued, if you see what I mean. The stock I would go for this year is Glencore again. And the reason for that is that Glencore has the better mix of battery-style metals than the other companies. Rio Tinto (LSE:RIO) and BHP (LSE:BHP) are still making lots of money out of their iron ore businesses, but iron ore prices have more than halved since their peak a few months ago. Yes, they’re earning billions of dollars out of those businesses, but I just think the market is going to start to write them down a bit as iron ore prices continue to fall.

Now, we’ve still got an issue of coal within some of these mining businesses. Rio’s and others have jettisoned certain carbon businesses that they don’t want to carry anymore. Anglo American recently got rid of their coal business as well. But I think the critical thing here is that Glencore, at least half of their business, is their trading business. And this has been a fantastic environment for trading companies to operate in, and I think Glencore are going to report extraordinary earnings out of the trading part of their business. Never mind the high-level earnings coming out of the industrial mining business that they run, but I think the trading business is going to see phenomenal results.

Lee: John Meyer at SP Angel, thanks very much for joining me today.

These articles are provided for information purposes only.  Occasionally, an opinion about whether to buy or sell a specific investment may be provided by third parties.  The content is not intended to be a personal recommendation to buy or sell any financial instrument or product, or to adopt any investment strategy as it is not provided based on an assessment of your investing knowledge and experience, your financial situation or your investment objectives. The value of your investments, and the income derived from them, may go down as well as up. You may not get back all the money that you invest. The investments referred to in this article may not be suitable for all investors, and if in doubt, an investor should seek advice from a qualified investment adviser.

Full performance can be found on the company or index summary page on the interactive investor website. Simply click on the company's or index name highlighted in the article.

Disclosure

We use a combination of fundamental and technical analysis in forming our view as to the valuation and prospects of an investment. Where relevant we have set out those particular matters we think are important in the above article, but further detail can be found here.

Please note that our article on this investment should not be considered to be a regular publication.

Details of all recommendations issued by ii during the previous 12-month period can be found here.

ii adheres to a strict code of conduct.  Contributors may hold shares or have other interests in companies included in these portfolios, which could create a conflict of interests. Contributors intending to write about any financial instruments in which they have an interest are required to disclose such interest to ii and in the article itself. ii will at all times consider whether such interest impairs the objectivity of the recommendation.

In addition, individuals involved in the production of investment articles are subject to a personal account dealing restriction, which prevents them from placing a transaction in the specified instrument(s) for a period before and for five working days after such publication. This is to avoid personal interests conflicting with the interests of the recipients of those investment articles.

Get more news and expert articles direct to your inbox