FTSE100 all over again

A while ago I resolved to examine every company in the FTSE100 in turn, deciding for each one if I thought it was worth further investigation or not. I didn't get very far. There were too many dull companies to keep my attention.

Now I am going to try again but this time I will give only a very cursory look to the dull companies, rejecting them as soon as I decide they are uninvestable.

So here goes...

Anglo American

Aha an interesting one to start with!

AAL is a diversified miner in the same league as BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto. The market cap. is about £45 billion, the PE ratio is about 12 and the dividend yield is just under 2%.

AAL has six operations: platinum, diamonds, base metals, ferrous metals, coal and industrial minerals. In common with most miners its share price has been soaring, tripling over the last five years. But with brokers forecasting 2008 EPS of 320p its 2008 PE is only 11.

As with all miners, their attractiveness depends on your view on commodity prices over the next five years and longer. With continued rapid growth in China and India there is a case that current high prices will be maintained and could escalate further.

AAL's share price has gone nowhere in the last 12 months. So now could be a decent time to accumulate some.

I will mark this one as worthy of further investigation.