Why I Sold My Molycorp Stock

I sold off my Molycorp (MCP) last week. The stock is up about 400% in less than a year. MCP has a market cap of just $5.4b. It has no earnings at all. Not much in the way of sales either. About $25mm in the most recent quarter.

I have little doubt that MCP will succeed as a mining company and it will be producing rare earths in the coming years. So maybe the stock price is justified. But this is a bet on the come. At a price of 50Xs trailing sales it makes it one of the most expensive stocks out there.

We know that RE aren’t rare. It’s extracting them that’s the problem. It’s a dirty business. We also know a thing or two about greed and money. That’s also a dirty business. When it is possible to raise $400mm and create a market value of $5b (MCP) on nothing more than a vague promise about future results one can expect that there will be many copycats.

I saw this article this morning. It made me feel a bit better about running for cover on MCP. Please don’t read this and conclude that MCP is a short. The stock could be up $10 in any given week. Calling the top is a fool’s game. Especially when the price is already at foolish levels. But taking profits can be ‘sweet’ too.

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About Bruce Krasting 208 Articles

Bruce worked on Wall Street for twenty five years, he has been writing for the professional press for the last five years and has been on the Fox Business channel several times as a guest describing his written work.

From 1990-1995 he ran a private hedge fund in Greenwich Ct. called Falconer Limited. Investments were driven by macro developments. He closed the fund and retired in 1995. Bruce also been employed by Drexel Burnham Lambert, Citicorp, Credit Suisse and Irving Trust Corp.

Bruce holds a bachelor's degree in economics from Ithaca College and currently lives in Westchester, NY.

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