The Best Stock in Wyoming: Cloud Peak Energy
We analyzed publicly traded companies based in the Cowboy State to identify the best stock in Wyoming to buy now.


We scoured the nation to identify the best stock in every state. Cloud Peak Energy (symbol CLD) is the publicly traded company we picked in Wyoming. The company headquarters is located in Gillette.
A word of caution: Since we selected a single stock from each state (plus one from D.C), and choices in some states are sparse, a few of our picks are best suited to investors comfortable with a higher degree of risk. This is not necessarily one of our 51 favorite stocks in the entire U.S., in other words.
Cloud Peak Energy by the Numbers
- Headquarters: Gillette
- Share price: $3.01
- Market value: $226 million
- Price-earnings ratio: NA
(Prices and data are as of June 22, 2017)

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The pickings for public companies in Wyoming are slim. Cloud Peak is the biggest, even though the stock qualifies as a “penny stock,” trading at $3 a share. Still, it might pay off for contrarian investors willing to take a shot on a coal company. Cloud Peak produces coal in the Powder River Basin, operating three mines in Wyoming and Montana. Ryan Thibodeaux, comanager of the Goodwood SMID Long/Short fund, which owns the stock, concedes that coal stocks are a tough sell, given the expected long-term decline in the use of coal for generating electricity as utilities turn to cheaper natural gas. Natural gas prices, however, have been on the rise since late 2016, causing utilities to draw down coal inventories, implying increased future demand, says Thibodeaux. He thinks Cloud Peak is worth $10 a share. Analysts at Stifel rate the stock a “buy” with a 12-month price target of $7.25.
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Ryan joined Kiplinger in the fall of 2013. He wrote and fact-checked stories that appeared in Kiplinger's Personal Finance magazine and on Kiplinger.com. He previously interned for the CBS Evening News investigative team and worked as a copy editor and features columnist at the GW Hatchet. He holds a BA in English and creative writing from George Washington University.
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