Are these three underdogs a buy after today's results?

Three market underdogs have reported results today and while the companies may not be glamorous enough to appear in the headlines of market news bulletins, the results speak for themselves.

///>

Golden cash cow

Caledonia Mining(LSE: CMCL) reported its figures for the first half of 2016 with gold production up by around 3,000/oz, or 12.7%, and the on-mine cost of production per ounce down to $629 at the end of Q2, a fall of $91/oz year-on-year. The company's all-in-sustaining cost of production for the half fell to $943/oz from $1,007 for the first half of 2015.

Lower costs and higher production volumes helped Caledonia report a 172% increase in net profit for the first half and earnings per share more than doubled to 8.6 cents, from 4.1 cents for H1 2015. Cash generation for the half was just under $9m.

There's no other way of putting it, these figures from Caledonia are extremely impressive. The company is a low-cost gold producer that's generating plenty of cash and growing production steadily without leaning on debt. Cash generation of $9m, or around £6.7m, for a company with a market cap of £46m makes the company one of the most productive and efficient miners there is.

City analysts are expecting the company to report earnings per share of 15.9p for 2016 and 26.6p for 2017. Based on these figures the company is trading at an attractive forward P/E of 5.5 and supports a dividend yield of 4.4%.

Discount to NAV

Shares in energy investment company Riverstone Energy(LSE: RSE) are rising today after the company reported a 13.1% increase in its sterling net asset value per share for the six months ended 30 June. With a share price of only £10.55 at the time of writing and a NAV of £12.25 at the end of June, Riverstone looks to be undervalued.

The company has a portfolio of 16 oil investments around the world, covering both onshore and offshore as well as conventional and unconventional exploration and production, midstream and credit. Only 77% of the group's total capital is invested, leaving room for further growth if opportunities present themselves.

Still, the group made a loss of $25.2m for the period, but most of this loss is due to high admin and financing costs. Earlier this week Riverstone announced its first exit transaction which is expected to generate a return of 2.1 times the group's capital before costs or an internal rate of return of 77%.

Double-digit earnings growth

Lastly Coca Cola HBC(LSE: CCH), which today reported results for the six-month period ended 1 July. FX-neutral net sales revenue grew by 2.4%, or 3% taking into account one less selling day in the period and volume grew by 0.7% on the same basis. However, despite this sluggish volume and sales growth, earnings per share increased by 6.9% for the year and basic earnings per share grew by 12.5% as the firm continued to cut costs and improve margins. Net profit for the period expanded 10.8% year-on-year.

These upbeat figures have sent its shares up by 6.2% in early deals, but after these gains some investors may find that the shares are too expensive for comfort. City analysts are expecting earnings per share growth of 15% for full-year 2016 and if the company hits this target, the shares are trading at a forward P/E of 20.8.

The worst mistake you could make

According to a study conducted by financial research firm DALBAR, the average investor realised an average annual return of only 3.7% a year over the past three decades, underperforming the wider market by around 5.3% annually.

This underperformance can be traced back to several key mistakes that all investors make. To help you realise and understand the most common mis-steps, the Motley Fool has put together this new free report entitled The Worst Mistakes Investors Make.

The report is a collection of Foolish wisdom, which should help you avoid needlessly losing too many more profits. Click here to download your copy today.

Rupert Hargreaves has no position in any shares mentioned. The Motley Fool UK has no position in any of the shares mentioned. We Fools don't all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors.