Natural Resource Stocks for Income, Value, and Growth Investors

Both the Dow Jones Industrial Average

and the Standard & Poor's 500 Index

are down in recent market action. That has engendered speculation that a correction is coming. If a downturn ensues, income, value, and growth investors should take that as an opportunity to buy stocks in the natural resource sector such as BP PLC

, BHP Billiton

, and others at a discount for long term gains. For income investors, it does not get much better than BP PLC or BHP Billiton. At present, the average dividend yield for a member of the Standard & Poor's 500 Index

is under 2 percent. The dividend yield for BP, the second largest oil company in Europe, is 4.77 percent. BHP Billiton, the world's largest natural resources firm, has a dividend yield of 3.37 percent. Both have a history of dividend growth to reward long term investors. Goldcorp.

, the world's largest gold company, has a great deal of appeal to value investors. It is selling under book value. Not only that, it is much more cheaply priced than many other precious metal firms. Increasing the appeal of Goldcorp. is a low level of debt and high dividend yield of 2.53 percent. Growth investors should be pleased with the prospects of Premium Exploration

and Mondial Ventures

. Both are very promising small caps operating in North America, a feature for which investors are willing to pay a premium. It is a dangerous world for natural resource businesses, which makes the United States very alluring for investors. Premium Exploration is a gold company with valuable holdings in Idaho. In the legendary oil country of Texas is where Mondial Ventures is operating. Small caps like these is where growth investors need to be in natural resources as the high growth days for larger entities such as BHP Billiton and BP PLC are long gone. If a correction is coming, then the natural resources sector will be attractive. Growth from China, India, and other countries is increasing the demand for oil, gold, and other commodities. China and India are the two biggest buyers of gold. For many products, China is the largest consumer on the planet. For those and other factors, long term investors should be pleased by the returns from BP PLC, Premium Exploration, BHP Billiton, Mondial Ventures, and others in the natural resources group.