Commodity Stocks: Price Insights and Investment Tips

Hard commodities, soft commodities…simply put, they’re the raw materials people use to create a habitable world. Then practice what you’ve learned with our free stock market simulation.

Best Commodity Stocks

Here are some commodity stocks that have been popular in the last year:

Symbol	Company
NEW	NEWMONT MINING CORP
PTR	PETROCHINA SHS SPONSORED AMERICAN DEPOSITARY RECEI…
SHLX	SHELL MIDSTREAM PARTNERS LP
PPG	PPG INDUSTRIES INC
RDC	ROWAN COMPANIES PLC
ABX	BARRICK GOLD CORPORATION
VLO	VALERO ENERGY CORP
ANDV	ANDEAVOR
BP	BP SHS SPONSORED AMERICAN DEPOSITARY RECEIPT REPR …
HCLP	HI-CRUSH PARTNERS LP
UUU	ENERGY FUELS INC
CLF	CLEVELAND-CLIFFS INC
WPM	WHEATON PRECIOUS METALS CORP

About The Commodity Market

As long as the risks inherent to commodity trading are understood, it can be a very lucrative opportunity. Make calculated decisions.

How to Trade Commodities – 3 Strategies

Before you begin trading commodities, you should have some well thought out and consistent strategies that will dictate under what circumstances you will buy, sell and limit your losses. Here are some big ones:

Trading Breakouts

This strategy holds that a market can’t continue its trend without making new highs or new lows. This one works best when commodities are trending strongly. Whether the trend is up or down doesn’t matter, as you are buying new highs and selling new lows,

Fundamental Trading Strategy

Fundamental analysis is a means of analyzing commodities and simply trying to predict where the prices of commodities should be trading and what they will do in the future. This one is not recommended for a new commodity trader, since opinions can easily be swayed.

Range Trading Strategy

According to this strategy, you would look to buy a commodity after it has experienced a lot of selling and becomes oversold. Once a commodity has had a long rally and becomes overbought, you would look to sell it.

How to Buy Commodities

Commodity investing is extremely volatile – but can definitely work in your favor. In a broad investment portfolio, a small amount of commodities (between 5-10%) can offset risks associated with stocks, bonds and cash. A more prudent investor would own both the physical commodity as well as shares of the resource producers.

Being a Commodity Trader

There are two types of investors involved in commodity trading: hedgers and speculators.

Hedgers

These would be big corporations that depend on a consistent price for basic materials. A good example is a commercial farmer. The market values of wheat and other crops fluctuate constantly as supply and demand for them varies . The farmer would hedge his exposure to wheat prices. By doing so, he no longer cares whether the current price rises or falls because he is guaranteed a price by the contract.

Speculators

As a speculator, you are not actually purchasing these items. This is the type of investor you would be. Speculators purchase contracts for items to later be sold, whenever they feel that the price of a particular commodity is on its way down.

What are Commodities?

There are four primary categories of commodities currently traded on the market:

Energy (gasoline, oil, etc.)
Metals (gold, silver, platinum and copper)
Livestock (pigs, cows, etc.)
Agricultural (corn, cocoa, coffee, cotton, etc.)

The first two are referred to as “hard commodities” while the latter two are “soft commodities” If you’re planning to invest in commodities, it’s critical you understand what factors influence their value. Generally, there are two main influential elements: economic/political stability and supply and demand. Basically, as a commodity trader you are anticipating the future price of these raw materials and attempting to profit from fluctuations in the prices of these items.

Commodity Trading

Killer tips when investing in commodities:

Pay Attention To The News

Commodities are heavily influenced by supply + demand, so it’s important to understand what’s driving global business. The financial/mainstream news is an awesome resource for this info.

Monitor Economic Movements

Commodities are largely influenced by economic stability, so staying up-to-date on economic movements (and their influence over commodities) is now a must.

Find Interrelationships Between Assets

Consider how the movement of an asset could impact the value of a commodity. A rise in value due to a surge in demand for one thing (cars) may subsequently lead to an impact on the value of another (oil).

Motley Fool Stock Advisor Performance as of June 30, 2025

The Best Stock Newsletters as of June 29, 2025

Ranking of Top Stock Newsletters Based on Last 3 Years of Stock Picks

We are paid subscribers to dozens of stock newsletters. We actively track every recommendation from all of these services, calculate performance, and share the results of the top performing stock newsletters whose subscriptions fees are under $500. The main metric to look for is "Excess Return" which is their return above that of the S&P500. So, based on last 3 years ending June 29, 2025:

Rank	Stock Newsletter	Stock Picks	Average Return	Excess Return	Percent Profitable	Max % Return
1.	Alpha Picks	76	63%	40%	73%	969%
	Summary: 2 picks/month based on Seeking Alpha's Quant Rating; Retail Price is $499/yr. See details in our Alpha Picks Review.			July, 2025 Promotion: Save $50
2.	Moby.co	308	43.3%	12.3%	74%	1764%
	Summary: 60-150 stock picks per year, segmented by industry; Retail Price is $199/yr. Read our Moby Review.			July, 2025 Promotion:Next pick free!
3.	Stock Advisor	72	41.2%	6.9%	78%	258%
	Summary: 2 picks/month and 2 Best Buy Stocks lists focusing on high growth potential stocks over 5 years; Retail Price is $199/yr. Read our Motley Fool Review.			July, 2025 Promotion: Get $100 Off
4.	Value Investor	39	17.5%	6.1%	38%	410%
	Summary: 10-25 stock picks per year based on Zacks' Quant Rating; Retail Price is $495/yr. Read our Zacks Review.			July, 2025 PROMOTION:$1, then $495/yr
5.	Rule Breakers	66	40.0%	4.7%	61%	311%
	Summary: 2 picks/month focusing on disruptive technology and business models; Lifetime average return of 355% vs S&P500's 149% since 2005; Now part of Motley Fool Epic. Read our Motley Fool Epic Review.			Current Promotion: Save $200
6.	TipRanks SmartInvestor	121	10.6%	3.7%	55%	340%
	Summary: About 1 pick/week focusing on short term trades; Lifetime average return of 355% vs S&P500's 149% since 2015. Retail Price is $379/yr. Read our TipRanks Review.			Current Promotion: Save $180
7.	Action Alerts Plus	394	20.0%	3.4%	57%	220%
	Summary: 100-150 trades per year, lots of buying and selling and short term trades. Read our Jim Cramer Review.			Current Promotion: None
8.	Stock Advisor Canada	36	32.3%	0.5%	69%	378%
	Summary: 1 pick/month from the Toronto stock exchange; Retail Price is CD$199/yr. Read our Motley Fool Canada Stock Advisor Review.			July, 2025 Promotion: Save $100
Top Ranking Stock Newsletters based on their last 3 years of stock picks' performance through May 31, 2025 as compared to S&P500. S&P500's return is based on average return of S&P500 from date each stock pick is released. NOTE: To get these results you must buy equal dollar amounts of each pick on the date the stock pick is released. Investor Business Daily Top 50 based on performance of FFTY ETF.