As Coal Skyrockets, Analysts Are Late to the Party

What can I say - this is simply an epic move.<!----> As I keep saying,coal reminded me of fertilizer last summer/fall - totally
underestimated. I am simply amazed by the strength and voraciousness of
this move, even as a super bull on the group. Yet another upgrade in the group
and you are seeing some huge earning revisions and price targets across
the board - analysts finally "get it" - after about 40-70% 1 month
moves across the board. Always timely these analysts. Again, these
guys focus on 1 industry (career/full time job devoted to 1 sector) yet
missed the whole rocketship, only after the ship is in orbit do they
"get it"? Where were they 2 months ago when the writing was on the wall
i.e. [Apr 7: Posco (PKX) Agrees to 200% Coal Price Increases]?
Now come the upgrades?Again, exactly the same scenario that played
out in fertilizer. Just more "value add" from these fellas.

• A Friedman, Billings, Ramsey analyst significantly raised his coal price predictions and upgraded a major miner to "Outperform," suggesting that demand will far outpace supply through 2010.
• Analyst David Khani raised his price forecast for metallurgical coal, which is used in steel production, by 90 percent for 2009 to $130 per ton. For 2010, he raised his expectation by 130 percent to $250 per ton.
• For steam coal, used in boilers to produce electricity, Khani raised his predictions by about 25 percent in 2009 and 2010.
• Based on his new price expectations, he upgraded Massey Energy Co. -- the fourth largest U.S. coal producer by revenue -- to "Outperform" from "Market Perform."
• Khani
  noted that lower supply and booming international demand is keeping the
  metallurgical coal market extremely tight. The steam coal market in the
  U.S., he said, is undersupplied as power generation demand accelerates
  the need for the commodity. He suggested that supplies will dwindle at
  the end of next year and prices should rise at a rapid rate.
• The analyst lifted his 12-month price targets for all the U.S. coal companies he covers, and added Patriot Coal Corp. as a "Top Pick."
• Risks:
  Khani said a weakening global economy, increasing credit defaults and
  soaring prices for drybulk ships -- which transport coal overseas --
  could all weigh down the sector's growth rate.

TheStreet.com has an in-depth article as well, nothing new to our readers who have been following along this story before the mainstream jumped on [Dec 6: Coal Stocks Quietly in Bull Market]
Judging from web traffic in which I'd say about 1/2 of my Google hits
the past few days are some incarnation of "coal" (just like 3 months
ago they were some incarnation of "fertilizer" or "agriculture" or
"rice"), I can see the story is catching on. Which again, makes me short
term concerned about the group.... but we'll keep riding with what we
have left.