Before trading stocks, investors and speculators first have to decide which stocks to trade.  This is a daunting and arduous task, as there are usually dozens or even hundreds of publicly-traded companies in any given sector.  This entire population must be meticulously researched in order to uncover the best companies with the highest potential for success.  After we spend hundreds of hours looking into the stocks in a promising sector, we summarize the fundamental prospects of our favorites in the form of Zeal Reports.

This tour will walk you through one of these actual fundamental profiles.  The company used here is Goldcorp, an elite gold miner, from our Favorite 20 Gold-Producing Stocks Research Report of November 2007.  While just 1 of 20 stocks profiled on this particular report, this profile is a great example of what to expect.  You can read it by clicking on any of the small report images below.  They link to full-page screenshots that you can view right here in your web browser.

Page 2 of 33  The introduction gives a general strategic overview of a stock and explains why it is one of our favorites in the sector.  It can include key events in a company's history, a discussion on management's pedigree, unique aspects of a company, our past trading experience with it, and anything else relevant right up front.  It introduces a company in broad terms before we dive into its projects.

While no company is perfect, every one is unique.  And these unique attributes help a company stand out from its peers.  Uniqueness is really important as it is a key component of a stock's attractiveness for future buyers.  Traders want to buy stocks that are likely to be highly desired, hence bid higher, in the future.

In this example from Goldcorp, its meteoric growth from a tiny $50m company is discussed.  Legendary gold magnate Robert McEwen turned around Goldcorp, transforming its once-dying Red Lake mine into its flagship operation.  He also orchestrated its highly-successful merger with Wheaton River Minerals that vaulted Goldcorp into the ranks of the world's elite 1m+ oz gold producers.

Page 3 of 33  Next we dive into each company's fundamental prospects on a project-by-project basis.  We outline each of its major mining operations, development projects, and exploration projects.  A company's current production comes from its existing mines, its future production from its development projects, and its long-term longevity from its exploration pipeline.  All are crucial.

We generally discuss a company's most important operating projects first, usually as defined by current production.  Development and exploration projects are then discussed in order of estimated initial production.  After you read a project-by-project fundamental analysis of a company, you'll really understand its prospects.

In this Goldcorp example, its flagship Red Lake mine is discussed in depth.  It is the largest gold mine in Canada by production volume and the second largest in terms of reserves.  Goldcorp enhanced this mine by acquiring a land package of old Placer Dome properties adjacent to Red Lake that Barrick Gold spun off after it acquired Placer Dome.  Goldcorp is aggressively exploring these properties.

Page 4 of 33  Although companies' flagship projects are often well-known, it is always important to consider their secondary projects too.  These projects are usually smaller today, but have the potential to grow large in the future.  They can also add sizeable production, as in Goldcorp's case.  It is impossible to truly understand a company fundamentally without considering all its major projects.

A great example in this Goldcorp profile is its massive Penasquito development project that it acquired with its Glamis Gold acquisition.  Located in Mexico, this mine has far greater reserves than the flagship Red Lake mine.  It will also last a lot longer into the future, 20 years as opposed to Red Lake's current 6 years.

By considering a company's fundamental prospects through all its major projects viewed as a complimentary whole, investors and speculators gain a much better understanding of where it is likely heading.  Often naive traders will see problems at one headline project so they'll aggressively sell the stock.  But this creates an excellent short-term buying opportunity for those who see the big picture.

Page 5 of 33  After a company's various projects, its financials must be carefully considered.  Unfortunately many commodities stocks with excellent deposits have hobbled themselves and radically reduced their future potential through poor financial decisions.  These can include excessive stock dilution, unfavorable debt covenants, and of course hedging.  All these risks must be considered up front.

In Goldcorp's case in this example, surprisingly this market-darling gold stock has hedged some of its silver production.  While we don't like this, we can live with it in this case since Goldcorp owns 49% of the company that will benefit on the other side of its silver hedges, Silver Wheaton.  Goldcorp hedges none of its gold.

Finally we close each stock profile with a summary.  The table portion includes a lot of critical information about a company including its production, reserves, and key financial and operational statistics for comparison with other companies.  In the text conclusion, we outline why each company made the list of our favorites in its sector.  We also discuss why it has excellent potential going forward.

The stock research in our reports is very valuable.  Not only have we sifted through a whole pile of companies that didn't make a particular report, but we have spent many hours researching each that did make it.  You can save yourself hundreds of hours of wading through tedious SEC filings and company documentation by buying our stock reports.  You'll also gain our priceless general wisdom, that only comes through years of researching and trading stocks, applied to all of the analysis in these stock profiles.  Zeal Reports are an awesome deal.

Don't delay, buy a Zeal Report on our fundamentally favorite stocks in your sector of choice today!