Barrick Gold (ABX)

[winston]

not vested

#1 Barrick Gold (NYSE:ABX)

This is a good short-term pick because gold is rebounding after post-election losses and the increasing global chaos—most notably U.S. air strikes in Syria and North Korea’s suggestions that it’s finger is on the nuclear button.

It’s not clear yet whether this is a good bet long term, but for now, gold is loving the chaos more and more.

For Barrick—a $23.27-billion market cap company, and the world’s largest gold producer—the Chile deal with Goldcorp adds a very attractive package of underdeveloped gold to its portfolio.

This could be a solid long-term play, as well, because Barrick has been one of the smartest in terms of reducing debt, cutting costs, and generating solid free cash flow.

It has one of the lowest cost structures of all the big miners, and it even raised dividends for shareholders in the last quarter of 2016.

And there are plenty of catalysts even beyond broader gold fundamentals. Word is that Barrick is considering the sale of all or part of its Lagunas Normine in Peru, which is potentially worth anywhere from $700 million to $1.4 billion.

Source: Oil Price

[winston]

vested

Credit Suisse analyst Anita Soni and team explain what went wrong at Barrick…

ABX reported Q1/17 adj. EPS of $0.14 below CS est. of $0.19 and Bloomberg consensus of $0.21: Earnings were impacted by lower production and higher costs vs. CS estimates…

This result represents a relatively rare quarterly miss for ABX, which had beaten five of the past six quarters. We continue to rate ABX Outperform for its differentiated strategy focused on ROIC and its quality asset base.

Valuation on P/NAV at spot at 1.46x is slightly more attractive than peers at 1.50x as is FCF yield of 4.4% vs. peers at 3.6%. Commodity prices are the key risk to our view.

Source: Barron's

http://blogs.barrons.com/stockstowatcht ... yptr=yahoo

[winston]

vested

Understanding Barrick Gold’s 1Q17 Miss

By Annie Gilroy

The company’s results were weaker than expected.

For 1Q17, ABX reported adjusted EPS (earnings per share) of $0.14, which was lower than the consensus estimate of $0.20.

Though its revenues rose 3% YoY (year-over-year) to $1.99 billion in 1Q17, ABX missed the analyst estimate by 8.3%.

The company also downwardly revised its production estimate for 2017 to between 5.3 million and 5.6 million gold ounces from its previous estimate of 5.6 million–5.9 million ounces.

The company mentioned that approximately two-thirds of this reduction stemmed from its anticipated sale of a 50% stake in the Veladero mine.

Investors seemed disappointed about the reduced production guidance as well as about the delays in the operations at Veladero after a cyanide spill in March 2017.

This latest cyanide spill is the company’s third in the past two years.

A new plan is being devised to normalize the operations at the site, which could come at a preliminary cost of $500 million, including the capital to sustain these operations for five years.

Increase in AISC YoY

Barrick Gold (ABX) achieved AISC (all-in sustaining costs) of $772 per ounce in 1Q17, representing an increase of 9.3% YoY (year-over-year). The company attributes ~90% of this increase to higher sustaining capital expenditures as compared to 1Q16.

Barrick Gold has reiterated that strengthening its balance sheet is its top priority. The company achieved debt reduction of $2.0 billion in 2016.

It also intends to reduce its net debt from $7.9 billion at the beginning of 2017 to $5 billion by the end of 2018. The company targets half of this total reduction of $2.9 billion for 2017.

Barrick also noted that the major drivers for this reduction will be cash flow from operations, portfolio optimization, and new joint ventures and partnerships.

The company has achieved a debt reduction of more than $5.0 billion since early 2015, and this has helped it save more than $180.0 million annually on interest expenses.

But even after this debt reduction, the company remains highly leveraged compared to its peers, including Goldcorp (GG), Kinross Gold (KGC), Yamana Gold (AUY), and Agnico-Eagle Mines (AEM).

Barrick Gold is comfortable with its short-term liquidity. It had a cash balance of $2.3 billion at the end of 1Q17, and now, the company has less than $100.0 million in debt due before 2019. About 64.0% of its outstanding debt doesn’t mature until after 2032.

Source: Market Realist

http://marketrealist.com/2017/04/invest ... 1q17-miss/

[winston]

vested

Barrick faces sanctions for Argentina cyanide spills, judge says

By Juliana Castilla

Barrick Gold Corp failed to complete improvements to the Veladero mine in Argentina that could have prevented the third spill of cyanide solution in 18 months, leading to eventual sanctions for the world's biggest gold miner, a judge told Reuters.

Source: Reuters

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-barri ... ess%200900

[winston]

vested

Druckenmiller, Templeton Added Barrick Before Earnings Fizzle

by Luzi-Ann Javier

Duquesne Family Office added Barrick Gold last quarter: filing
Templeton Global Advisors triples stake in mining company

Source: Bloomberg

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles ... yptr=yahoo

[behappyalways]

Barrick Gold’s stock soars more than 10% after Buffett’s Berkshire reveals stake
https://www.cnbc.com/2020/08/17/barrick ... stake.html

[behappyalways]

Barrick Raises Dividend on Back of Strong Cash Position
https://www.barrick.com/English/news/ne ... fault.aspx

[behappyalways]

UPDATE 5-Barrick Gold tweaks cost guidance as copper boosts second-quarter earnings
https://www.google.com/amp/s/finance.ya ... 34853.html

[behappyalways]

Disciplined Strategy Execution Supports Sustained Value Creation at Barrick
https://www.barrick.com/English/news/ne ... fault.aspx

[behappyalways]

I don't think I'd be sitting here if we hadn't done that - Barrick CEO on debt reduction over M&A
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=vjDBPXc_Abc&t=1377s