A Review of Fisher Precious Metals

• Fisher Precious Metals is a precious metals company.
• Its products range from bulk silver to numismatic coins, as well as gold, platinum, and palladium bullion products.
• Incorporated in 1979 and based in Lake Oswego, Oregon, Fisher Precious Metals trades on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol FIS as of June 2021.

Fisher Precious Metals, Inc. is a $1.2 billion (as of June 2021) global provider of precious metal products, including gold, silver, platinum, and palladium. The company is based in Lake Oswego, Oregon, with a significant presence in the United Kingdom.
Fisher Precious Metals was founded in 1979 and is traded on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) under the ticker symbol FIS as of June 2021.

History

Fisher Precious Metals was founded in 2002 to provide investors with professional investment advice and portfolio management. Fisher Precious Metals is a member of the National Futures Association (NFA) and is registered with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) as a Commodity Pool Operator (CPO).
Headquarters
Fisher Precious Metals is located in Kansas City, Missouri.
Fisher Precious Metals offers its customers a variety of investment products, including:
Gold bullion

Gold securities

Precious metals funds

Business Model

Fisher offers physical precious metals in storage, as well as real-time cash-settled futures contracts.
Cash-settled futures contracts entail no physical delivery and are traded on futures exchanges. The contracts, like the precious metals they are based on, are traded in lots of 100 ounces. The contracts capture the market value of the underlying metal. They are popular with traders, as they are liquid and have low transaction costs.
Fisher's cash-settled futures contracts trade on the COMEX.
The cash-settled futures contracts give investors exposure to the price movement of precious metals, but avoid the upfront cost of purchasing the underlying metal. They allow investors to speculate on the price movements of precious metals, but without being exposed to the storage costs. The futures contracts are margined (leveraged), which means that if the price moves against the investor, they will require additional capital, which they may borrow from Fisher.
There are three types of cash-settled futures contracts offered by Fisher:
Daily gold futures contracts

Weekly gold futures contracts

Monthly gold futures contracts

Fisher offers storage in 40 vaults in 15 countries. The metal is stored in allocated or segregated accounts, with segregated accounts being preferred by investors. The former are pooled accounts, in which different investors own the same metal.
Fisher also offers the Fisher Precious Metals Trust (FPMT), an exchange-traded fund (ETF), which holds physical precious metals in 20 vaults in 10 countries. The closed-end fund is traded on the NYSE Arca.

Key Information

Fisher Precious Metals is a privately owned and physically backed precious metals dealer based in New York City. The company specializes in the exchange of physical precious metals (gold, silver, platinum, palladium, rhodium, and ruthenium), in addition to providing storage, refining, and fabrication services in one location.
The company offers a wide variety of precious metals products, including:
Bullion bars

Bullion coins

Branded bullion (i.e., Credit Suisse, PAMP Suisse, Royal Canadian Mint)

Paper gold (i.e., Gold Certificates)

Precious metals storage

Precious metals trading

Pros

Fisher Precious Metals is a well-established precious metals company. Its headquarters are in Dallas, Texas, and it has offices in New York, New York, and Phoenix, Arizona.
Fisher Precious Metals holds an A+ rating from the Better Business Bureau (BBB).
The company has a BBB membership since 2017.
Fisher Precious Metals is a member of the American Numismatic Association (ANA).
Fisher Precious Metals offers several ways to contact the company.

Cons
Fisher Precious Metals offers minimal information about its services, including information about its executive team, its precious metals products, and precious metals educational resources.
Fisher Precious Metals does not list fees for precious metals transactions on its website.

Cons

A lack of resources on its website and blog
A limited number of products listed on its site
High premiums over spot prices for metals
No silver or platinum options

Pro
A strong platform with competitive pricing and financing
Offers competitive storage rates for gold and silver bullion