Can Gold Provide High Yields?

I've noticed an emerging trend from my subscribers.

It started out about two years ago as a whisper. Month by month, email by email, that whisper has become a little louder... a little louder... a little louder. Today, I'm hearing it loud and clear and received my last email about it just a few days ago.

Income investors want to know if they can capture high yields while investing in gold.

So what's behind this rise in interest in gold? And more importantly, are there high yields available from the yellow metal?

The flight to gold is all about safety. Safe-haven investors have been responding to the eurozone crisis and fears of a weaker-than-expected recovery by fleeing to gold. The price is up nearly +25% from the average monthly price of $972 in 2009. This is not a recent phenomenon. Gold has roughly quadrupled since 2001, when it was selling for under $300 an ounce.

In fact, my husband and I shifted a portion of our assets into gold when we had some fears during the subprime crisis. As it turns out, we didn't need to rely on our gold assets to bail us out of poverty. Instead, we've so far reaped gains of around +50% on our gold.

But gold is a tricky investment. Many want to hold gold as a hedge. But it's not always a hedge in down markets. In fact, gold prices actually fell in the peak months of the financial crisis in late 2008 and early 2009. As well, gold doesn't necessarily perform badly in up markets. While U.S. and world markets soared in the past decade, before the financial crisis, gold prices rallied at the same time.

A likely reason for the strong appreciation in gold prices during the last decade was the precipitous fall in the value of the dollar (as gold is quoted in dollar prices). But lately, the dollar and gold are both rallying strongly at the same time.

What's going on?

Investors are fleeing the euro amid the debt crisis in Europe and placing money in the relatively safe havens of U.S. dollars and gold. According to The Wall Street Journal, central banks are increasingly shifting money out of euros and into gold. The increased appetite led to the metal hitting an all-time record high price of $1,262 per ounce (on the New York Mercantile Exchange) in June. (Over the past couple of weeks, however, gold has pulled back while the euro has risen.)

Given the uncertainty and risk-aversion that is likely in the months and years ahead, gold seems like a good bet to do well. And don't think the rally can't continue even higher. In the 1970s, the price of gold increased more than 20-fold from an average of about $35 per ounce in 1970 to a high of over $800 per ounce in 1980. If history is any gauge, gold could have more room to run.

But What About Yields?
I can't sugarcoat it -- finding yields powered by gold can be difficult.

I've been doing some research. I discovered that of the nearly 250 common stocks based in the U.S. that are part of the metals and mining sector, only a couple yield more than 5%. And of the 61 of those companies focused primarily on gold, zero have a yield worth looking at twice.

I did come across some convertible preferred shares from Hecla Mining (on Yahoo! Finance, the tickers will be "HL-PB" and "HL-PC"). They pay about 6.5%. While Hecla does have some exposure to gold, it's far from a pure play.

As I said, it's tough to find yields from gold... but it's not impossible. In my July issue of High-Yield Investing, I picked a gold fund that pays nearly 6.5% as my "High-Yield Security of the Month" (if you're a subscriber to High-Yield Investing, click here to read my analysis. You must be logged in to view).

But apart from a few funds, your options are sparse. The good news is that both income investing and gold investing are becoming more popular in today's environment. I expect that some new offerings could pop up soon that fill the "gold/income" void. I plan to keep my eye out and will let you be the first to know if I find something with a juicy yield.

Good Investing!

Signs are pointing that even with the uncertainty in the market, dividend stocks are looking cheap.

According to the Financial Post, the spread between the S&P 500's average yield (2.2%) and the yield on 10-year Treasuries (2.94%) has shrunk to an extremely low 75 basis points.

As a rule of thumb, a spread of less than 200 basis points indicates the market may be "cheap."

--  Research Staff

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