Riot Platforms, Desert Gold Ventures, British American Tobacco with a bang

Riot Platforms - Strengthening the market position

Mining companies such as Riot Platforms, in particular, are likely to receive a tailwind from the speech by the former and perhaps future president. In his keynote speech at Bitcoin 2024, he made it unmistakably clear that the US would become the world's Bitcoin superpower and that he would make the crypto-mining sector the largest in the world.

The Company from Castle Rock, Colorado, is strongly positioned for the future and, according to a recent study by JP Morgan, has the second-largest gigawatt capacity of all mining companies listed on the stock exchange in the US. The acquisition of Block Mining, a Kentucky-based Bitcoin miner, has further strengthened this position. The transaction volume totalled USD 92.5 million, with USD 18.5 million to be paid in cash and ordinary shares worth USD 74 million.

Analysts praised the strategic aspect in particular, as it diversifies the Company's energy supply and increases capacity to over two gigawatts. JP Morgan's price target after the report is USD 12.

The CEO of Riot Platforms, Jason Les, commented: "This transaction allows us to diversify our operations nationally and accelerate the expansion of Block Mining in Kentucky. With a combined capacity of 60 MW and a pipeline that allows for rapid scaling to over 300 MW, this acquisition expands our operations."

Desert Gold Ventures - Significant opportunities

The increasing global conflicts with wars in Ukraine and Palestine have led the gold price to a new high of USD 2,483.76 in recent months. The base value is currently correcting and is at a broad resistance level of USD 2,386. Many experts agree that significantly higher prices are likely to be seen again due to growing tensions. During the last upward impulse, exploration companies hardly benefited from the rising gold price. However, history has shown that they can compensate for this underperformance in a longer upward cycle and then act like a leveraged product.

Strongly positioned, yet still largely unknown with a market capitalization of CAD 15.74 million, is the Canadian company Desert Gold Ventures. The Company, which is conducting exploration work on the SMSZ project in Mali, covers an area of 440 sq km and is one of the largest undeveloped areas in West Africa. There are several active mines in the immediate vicinity of the project, operated by companies such as Barrick Gold, Allied Gold, Endeavour Mining, and B2Gold. The SMSZ project has proven mineral resources of almost 1.1 million ounces. Over 23 gold deposits are known in the region, which are to be further explored and evaluated in terms of their economic viability.

The team led by CEO Jared Scharf is currently awaiting initial results from the 3,750 m drilling program launched in May, which is designed to significantly expand the existing gold deposits and, at the same time, explore new exploration targets. The medium-term goal is also to carry out the prefeasibility study. By then, it will likely be too late for investors to enter at a comparable valuation level.

British American Tobacco on the upswing

Despite a reduction in revenue targets for 2025 to below GBP 5 billion, the tobacco company's shares made significant gains last week. With a weekly gain of over 4%, the share left the striking resistance at USD 34.29 behind. The next short-term target will likely be the EMA 200, which is currently at USD 36.04. If this level is breached on a sustained basis, the high for the year from December 2022 at USD 42.36 beckons.

The British giant reported its figures for the first half of the year in the past trading week. In the so-called new categories, revenue fell year-on-year from GBP 1.96 billion to GBP 1.65 billion. However, adjusted for exchange rate effects and the sale of parts of the Company, there was an increase of 7.4%. Overall, revenue fell by around 8% to GBP 12.3 billion, although the adjusted decline was significantly lower. Operating profit fell by around 28% to GBP 4.26 billion. Both revenue and operating profit fell short of average analyst expectations. Nevertheless, the Company believes it is still on track to achieve its corporate goals for 2024.

Donald Trump's speech will likely provide a further tailwind for Bitcoin mining companies like Riot Platforms. BAT was able to generate a "Buy" signal after publishing its figures for the first half of the year. Desert Gold Ventures is expected to continue its upward trend following the announcement of positive drilling results.