Is U.S. Gold Corp. (USAU) the Best Precious Metals Stock to Buy According to Analysts?
Gold prices set new records in early 2025, driven by growing interest in gold as a safe haven asset amid rising tariffs and trade wars between the United States and China. The precious metal exceeded $3,000/oz recently. Lately, gold is acting both as a hedge against inflation and a competitor to yield-earning assets like the US Treasurys. This has created what analysts call a 'smile profile,' where gold tends to go up whether US yields rise or fall. Natasha Kaneva, head of Global Commodities Strategy at J.P. Morgan, commented:
'We maintain our multi-year bullish outlook on gold. From a macro perspective, a universal tariff scenario would likely supercharge the broad price effects for precious metals. Boosted economic growth concerns and higher inflation risks could continue to fuel strong investor demand for gold.'
Similarly, Jim Wyckoff, a senior analyst at Kitco Metals, said on April 15:
'Traders are waiting for the next major fundamental development to drive the gold market, but the charts remain bullish. There's still safe-haven demand.'
In line with that, European private banking firm Commerzbank wrote in a note to investors:
'The rise in the gold price is also partly in line with the continuing weakness of the dollar, which points to a gradual erosion of the U.S. currency's status as a safe asset – gold is likely to be an alternative for many USD investors.'
Goldman Sachs has lifted its gold price forecast from $3,300 to $3,700 per ounce by the end of 2025. This forecast is supported by higher central bank purchases and increased ETF inflows amid growing global economic uncertainty. President Trump's unpredictable trade policies are the basis for this market upheaval. While gold remains a haven in volatile times, it lacks income-generating potential and incurs storage costs. Still, mining stocks are also gaining appeal, with lower energy costs boosting profits.
According to the Silver Institute, the silver market is moving towards its fifth consecutive year of a supply deficit in 2025, with demand exceeding supply again. Industrial use, especially in green tech, electric vehicles, and electronics, is driving much of this demand and is expected to reach a new record this year. Prices also rebounded in early 2025, partly due to growing uncertainty around President Trump's potential tariff policies, which have resulted in more short covering and deliveries of silver into CME warehouses. At the same time, ongoing global and economic concerns have helped push investors back toward safe-haven assets like silver.
Still, silver investment has faced some challenges. Ongoing concerns about China's economy have held back demand, and the persistently high gold-to-silver ratio suggests that investors still favor gold. Overall, silver demand is expected to stay steady at around 1.2 billion ounces. While industrial and retail investment will rise, jewellery and silverware demand, especially in India, is expected to fall due to high local prices.
For this article, we searched multiple credible websites to compile a large list of US-listed precious metals stocks. Next, we manually searched for the average upside potential of each stock and selected 13 stocks with the highest values. The list below is ranked in ascending order of the upside potential as of April 16. We have also mentioned the hedge fund sentiment as per Insider Monkey's database of Q4 2024.
Why are we interested in the stocks that hedge funds pile into? The reason is simple: our research has shown that we can outperform the market by imitating the top stock picks of the best hedge funds. Our quarterly newsletter's strategy selects 14 small-cap and large-cap stocks every quarter and has returned 373.4% since May 2014, beating its benchmark by 218 percentage points ().
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Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 5
Average Upside Potential: 85.83%
U.S. Gold Corp. (NASDAQ:USAU) is a Nevada-based explorer and developer of gold and other precious metal projects in the United States. It is one of the best metal stocks to invest in. On February 12, H.C. Wainwright analyst Heiko Ihle reiterated a Buy rating on U.S. Gold Corp. (NASDAQ:USAU) and raised the price target to $14 from $13. The company got a boost from the investment advisory after sharing updated plans for its CK Gold Project. The study shows the site could produce around 1.11 million gold equivalent ounces over the next decade, with especially strong output in the first few years.
On February 26, U.S. Gold Corp. (NASDAQ:USAU) received a BBB rating from Digbee Limited for its CK Gold Project, showing that the company is on the right track with its sustainability efforts. The rating reflects USAU's commitment to responsible practices, like engaging with local communities, protecting the environment, and maintaining strong business standards.
According to Insider Monkey's fourth quarter database, 5 hedge funds reported owning stakes in U.S. Gold Corp. (NASDAQ:USAU), compared to 2 funds in the preceding quarter. Jim Simons' was the biggest stakeholder of the company, with 93,900 shares valued at $575,607.
Overall, USAU ranks 2nd on our list of best precious metals stocks to buy according to analysts. While we acknowledge the potential of precious metals stocks, our conviction lies in the belief that AI stocks hold greater promise for delivering higher returns, and doing so within a shorter time frame. There is an AI stock that went up since the beginning of 2025, while popular AI stocks lost around 25%. If you are looking for an AI stock that is more promising than USAU but that trades at less than 5 times its earnings, check out our report about this .
READ NEXT: 20 Best AI Stocks To Buy Now and 30 Best Stocks to Buy Now According to Billionaires.
Disclosure: None. This article is originally published at Insider Monkey.
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