In the latest trading session, Barrick Gold (GOLD) closed at $23.27, marking a -1.36% move from the previous day. This change lagged the S&P 500’s daily loss of 0.35%. At the same time, the Dow lost 0.41%, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq lost 0.07%.
Coming into today, shares of the gold and copper mining company had lost 2.44% in the past month. In that same time, the Basic Materials sector gained 11.32%, while the S&P 500 gained 3.21%.
Investors will be hoping for strength from GOLD as it approaches its next earnings release. The company is expected to report EPS of $0.34, up 100% from the prior-year quarter. Meanwhile, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for revenue is projecting net sales of $3.11 billion, up 7.92% from the year-ago period.
For the full year, our Zacks Consensus Estimates are projecting earnings of $1.10 per share and revenue of $12.55 billion, which would represent changes of +115.69% and +29.13%, respectively, from the prior year.
Investors might also notice recent changes to analyst estimates for GOLD. These recent revisions tend to reflect the evolving nature of short-term business trends. As such, positive estimate revisions reflect analyst optimism about the company’s business and profitability.
Based on our research, we believe these estimate revisions are directly related to near-team stock moves. To benefit from this, we have developed the Zacks Rank, a proprietary model which takes these estimate changes into account and provides an actionable rating system.
The Zacks Rank system ranges from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell). It has a remarkable, outside-audited track record of success, with #1 stocks delivering an average annual return of +25% since 1988. The Zacks Consensus EPS estimate has moved 0.52% higher within the past month. GOLD currently has a Zacks Rank of #4 (Sell).
Looking at its valuation, GOLD is holding a Forward P/E ratio of 21.42. For comparison, its industry has an average Forward P/E of 20.18, which means GOLD is trading at a premium to the group.
It is also worth noting that GOLD currently has a PEG ratio of 10.71. The PEG ratio is similar to the widely-used P/E ratio, but this metric also takes the company’s expected earnings growth rate into account. The Mining – Gold was holding an average PEG ratio of 2.65 at yesterday’s closing price.
The Mining – Gold industry is part of the Basic Materials sector. This industry currently has a Zacks Industry Rank of 216, which puts it in the bottom 16% of all 250+ industries.
The Zacks Industry Rank gauges the strength of our industry groups by measuring the average Zacks Rank of the individual stocks within the groups. Our research shows that the top 50% rated industries outperform the bottom half by a factor of 2 to 1.
