As the economy braces for the full effect of US tariffs, the threat of inflation is looming large once again, potentially putting your stocks at risk as higher costs are absorbed across the supply chain. While nothing will combat inflation as effectively as increasing your income, investors looking for an added edge still have serviceable options at their disposal. Broadly speaking, they are:
- Aligning their portfolios with undervalued stocks positioned to deliver significant upside, driven by attractive operations and pessimistic share prices.
- Increasing their allocations to stocks that stand to benefit from inflation, including commodity stocks, whose target materials will increase in price in line with inflation, placing a higher floor on overall returns.
In an ideal world, investors keen on more commodity exposure would seek out companies that fit both categories, supercharging their potential to outperform inflation and more efficiently meet their long-term financial goals.
They would also maintain an allocation to commodities of at least 10 per cent, in line with the global market capitalization, as calculated by Visual Capitalist, with energy and materials each representing about a 5 per cent share, to ensure a proportional contribution to overall returns.
Additionally, they would diversify, well aware that commodities operate on different cycles, subject to idiosyncratic demand drivers, even though inflation is a net benefit to spot prices across the board.
With this framework in mind, in the latest edition of Stockhouse’s Weekly Market Movers, I’ll profile three stocks active in the oil, gold and cannabis industries, respectively, that appear to be underpricing their underlying assets, operations and inflation-protecting potential.
Fiddlehead Resources
We kick off our crusade against inflation with Fiddlehead Resources, an Alberta-based oil and gas producer with pro-forma production of 3,850 barrels of oil equivalent per day (boe/d) and proved developed producing reserves valued at C$80.2 million, more than 13x the company’s C$6.05 million market capitalization.
This content has been prepared as part of a partnership with Fiddlehead Resources Corp., Vista Gold Corp. and Herbal Dispatch Inc., and is intended for informational purposes only.
Fiddlehead, listing only in September 2024, generated C$3.96 million in oil and natural gas sales in Q1 2025, but did not do so profitably, locking in a net loss of C$2.49 million, explaining why the stock has given back 28.47 per cent since inception.
While worth monitoring, this trend should begin to shift as the company’s recent acquisition of 2,238 boe/d near Cynthia, Alberta, shows up on the income statement, adding an expected C$10.1 million in net operating income for the year ending July 1, 2026, as well as contributing to increasing reserves through 9 well recompletion candidates and 7 identified unbooked drilling locations.
With oil demand expected to continue its ascent into 2029, according to the International Energy Agency, and the need for new production likely to persist for decades after that, as per an OPEC report, Fiddlehead is well-positioned to scale into better pricing power and stronger financials to justify a higher stock price.
Brent Osmond, Fiddlehead Resources’ chief executive officer (CEO), sat down with Stockhouse’s Lyndsay Malchuk last week to discuss the Cynthia acquisition and the company’s Q1 2025 results. Watch the interview here.
Fiddlehead Resources stock (TSXV:FHR) last traded at C$0.10.
Vista Gold
Next in our trio of inflation-fighting commodity stocks, we have Vista Gold, market capitalization C$177.69 million, whose permitted Mt. Todd project in Northern Territory, Australia, stands as one of the country’s largest development-stage gold deposits with measured and indicated resources of 9.1 million ounces.
Mt. Todd yielded a 2025 feasibility study detailing an after-tax net present value of US$2.2 billion, a 1.7-year payback and capital costs of only US$425 million at US$3,300 per ounce of gold. Pending ongoing development and successful construction, this means that investors today can buy a stake in after-tax project cash flows expected to reach almost US$5 billion over a 30-year mine life at the low price of C$170.18 million. This is as enticing proposition with exponential upside, so long as the gold price holds at current levels, and over the near-term, J.P. Morgan, Fidelity and Goldman Sachs think it will, predicting a US$4,000 ounce by as soon as year end.
With Mt. Todd’s growth runway still largely untrodden, as highlighted by four targets on the 24 kilometre Batman Driffield Trend with the potential to add 1.8-3.5 million ounces to the resource, and management focused on improvements to enhance market appeal backed by US$15 million in cash as of Q1 2025 – including fine-grinding optimization, geotech grilling and pit slope refinement, and desktop studies of expansion alternatives – expect the project to continue delineating more value for the market, supporting Vista’s operational leverage beyond its target commodity.
Investors have been hopping onto our thesis as of late, more than doubling Vista Gold stock (TSX:VGZ) year-over-year to C$1.42, though shares remain down by about 16 per cent since 2020, despite’s gold’s approximately 70 per cent return over the period.
Frederick H. Earnest, Vista Gold’s president and CEO, joined Coreena Robertson to set investor expectations about the company’s near-term development plans. Watch the interview here.
Herbal Dispatch
Our third and final commodity stock to counteract inflation is Herbal Dispatch, market capitalization C$3.68 million, an owner and operator of cannabis e-commerce platforms specializing in small-batch craft flower and a diversity of other product formats, with relationships in legal markets across the world including Australia, Portugal and Brazil.
Herbal Dispatch has posted significant revenue growth over the past few years, delivering a 110 per cent increase from C$4.74 million in 2023 to C$9.92 million in 2024, followed by a more than 100 per cent YoY increase to C$2.7 million in Q1 2025 thanks to strong contributions from the recreational, export and services segments.
Net losses have been improving in tandem, decreasing from C$4.61 million in 2022 to C$2.77 million in 2024, with a net loss of only C$290,000 ending Q1 2025, setting operations up for further progress on the cannabis retailer’s path to profitability.
This kind of tangible financial progress is especially impressive, given the widespread bankruptcies and consolidations that have beset the global cannabis market because of oversupply, unsupported growth and margin compression, making Herbal Dispatch’s growing user base an increasingly essential asset for smaller players, as well as a potential acquisition target for major brands keen on conserving their leadership positions.
Management will spend the rest of 2025 focused on efficient scaling and new strategic revenue streams in Canada and abroad. The company is currently fielding numerous expressions of interest to export its products, opening the door for improved financials and a stock re-rating in the second half of the fiscal year.
According to Herbal Dispatch’s investor deck, it’s estimating that it will generate at least C$18.6 million in revenue in 2025, followed by C$26.3 million in 2026, supported by robust EBITDA growth of almost 300 per cent to at least C$1.7 million, continuing to prove out a business capable of creating value from a deflated commodity.
Look for Herbal Dispatch stock (CSE:HERB) to start to retrace its 55 per cent loss since 2023, contingent on the global cannabis market finding its way back to the mammoth growth expected through 2030, and the company continuing to deliver on what since inception has been an unwavering commitment to profit as a conduit to shareholder value. Shares last traded at C$0.045.
Philip Campbell, Herbal Dispatch’s CEO, joined Lyndsay Malchuk to contextualize the company’s ongoing C$1 million private placement. Watch the interview here.
Thanks for reading! I’ll see you next week for a new edition of Weekly Market Movers, where I delve into companies that sat down with Stockhouse for an interview over the past week. Here’s the most recent article, in case you missed it.
Join the discussion: Find out what investors are saying about these inflation-protecting commodity stocks on the Fiddlehead Resources Corp., Vista Gold Corp. and Herbal Dispatch Inc. Bullboards and check out the rest of Stockhouse’s stock forums and message boards.
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