Will Brigus Gold Shine in 2012?

With 2012 just beginning, now's a smart time to gauge how the stocks you're interested in are likely to do this year and beyond. By knowing what stock analysts and fellow investors expect from a stock, you'll be smarter about whether you should buy it for your portfolio -- or sell it if you already own it.

Today, let's take a look at Brigus Gold (ASE: BRD) . As I discussed in more detail last month, the gold miner lost about half its value in 2011 despite the price of gold bullion posting yet another rise for the year. Yet the company's mines appear poised for some spectacular production. Will 2012 be a breakout year for the miner? Below, I'll take a closer look at what people expect from Brigus Gold and its rivals.

Forecasts on Brigus Gold

Source: Yahoo! Finance.

How will Brigus Gold do this year?
Analysts expect good things from Brigus Gold this year. The target stock price represents a more than 50% gain from current levels, and with both revenue and adjusted earnings expected to jump, it's easy to see Brigus breaking out of its 2011 slump this year. Motley Fool CAPS members join in the enthusiasm with a powerful four-star rating.

So far this year, Brigus and its other small-miner peers haven't disappointed, although they still have a long way to go before reaching fair value. Brigus is up more than 25% despite seeing COO Richard Allan leave the company suddenly. Primero Mining (NYS: PPP) has risen 10%, but it remains deeply discounted compared with the potential value of its primary gold and silver resources. Paramount Gold & Silver (ASE: PZG) , meanwhile, has jumped 11% on the back of more promising assay results from its San Miguel project in Mexico.

What could throw Brigus for a loop, however, would be a drop in gold prices. With the economy starting to pick up, the bullion-targeting ETF SPDR Gold (NYS: GLD) has underperformed mining stocks with less than a 5% gain, and higher interest rates stemming from a recovery could undermine bullion prices further. Yet problems in Europe could just as easily push gold prices higher.

Gold investors need to be aware of another opportunity with as much potential as Brigus has. Read The Motley Fool's latest special report on gold to find out the tiny gold stock digging up massive profits. It's free but only available for a limited time.

Click hereto add Brigus Gold to My Watchlist, which can find all of our Foolish analysis on it and all your other stocks.

At the time thisarticle was published Fool contributor Dan Caplinger doesn't own shares of the companies mentioned. The Motley Fool owns shares of Primero Mining. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Fool has a disclosure policy.

Copyright © 1995 - 2012 The Motley Fool, LLC. All rights reserved. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.