More Blow-Out Q1 Gold Miner Earnings
With gold way up year-over-year, gold miner earnings are coming in pretty much as expected. Which is to say, great.
We’ll get to three of them in a minute. But first, here’s a snippet from a mainstream investment bank’s recent (very positive) take on the miners:
Gold Mining in a Rising Price Environment: A Structural Shift Underway
(GoldFix) - The report offers a detailed account of how gold miners are navigating an environment of structurally higher gold prices, distinguishing itself from previous cycles through the persistent nature of both demand and cost inflation. CITI raises a core thesis: this is not a short-term spike in gold, but a fundamental repricing of the metal that may alter how mining companies behave, particularly in regard to reinvestment, dividends, and cost discipline.
Mining investors have known this all to be true. But soon everyone else will.
The heart of the work described herein is this:
The miners have been disciplined for years,
the banks have not paid attention due to flashier stocks
and the investment community in combination with higher Gold prices is now forcing all of them to take note.
These behavioral factors, in combination with the macroeconomic drivers lining up as described below, make this a once-in-40-year event whose time may have (finally) come.
Now for those Q1 results:
Epic gold price run drives Barrick Mining’s first quarter earnings
(Kitco News) - The gold market’s unprecedented run at all-time highs continues to dominate and transform the mining sector, as the world’s second-largest gold producer reported a solid start to the year.
On Wednesday, ahead of the North American open, Barrick Mining Corporation (NYSE: GOLD)(TSX: ABX) reported first-quarter net earnings of $474 million, or $0.27 per share, and adjusted net earnings of $603 million, or $0.35 per share, beating expectations. According to consensus forecasts, analysts had expected EPS of around $0.28.
The company said its net earnings per share increased 59% year-on-year, with adjusted net earnings per share growing by 84% compared to the first quarter of 2024.
“Operating cash flow of $1.2 billion was also up 59%, while free cash flow of $375 million improved materially compared to Q1 2024, driving a net debt reduction of 5% over the quarter,” the company said.
With its solid cash flow growth, the company approved a quarterly dividend of $0.10 per share. Barrick also said it would repurchase $143 million of its shares, consistent with its commitment to shareholder returns.
Barrick isn’t one of our Portfolio stocks, but it is available in gold miner ETFs like GDX and SGDM.
The following royalty/streamers are in our Portfolio, and just put up even better results: