Barrick Gold (GOLD) Gains But Lags Market: What You Should Know
In the latest trading session, Barrick Gold (GOLD) closed at $19.58, marking a +0.15% move from the previous day. This change lagged the S&P 500's 2.45% gain on the day. Meanwhile, the Dow gained 2.15%, and the Nasdaq, a tech-heavy index, added 0.18%.
Coming into today, shares of the gold and copper mining company had lost 5.69% in the past month. In that same time, the Basic Materials sector lost 9.64%, while the S&P 500 lost 5.71%.
Wall Street will be looking for positivity from Barrick Gold as it approaches its next earnings report date. The company is expected to report EPS of $0.29, unchanged from the prior-year quarter. Our most recent consensus estimate is calling for quarterly revenue of $3.16 billion, up 9.19% from the year-ago period.
For the full year, our Zacks Consensus Estimates are projecting earnings of $1.20 per share and revenue of $12.31 billion, which would represent changes of +3.45% and +2.68%, respectively, from the prior year.
Any recent changes to analyst estimates for Barrick Gold should also be noted by investors. These recent revisions tend to reflect the evolving nature of short-term business trends. With this in mind, we can consider positive estimate revisions a sign of optimism about the company's business outlook.
Our research shows that these estimate changes are directly correlated with near-term stock prices. We developed the Zacks Rank to capitalize on this phenomenon. Our system takes these estimate changes into account and delivers a clear, actionable rating model.
The Zacks Rank system, which ranges from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell), has an impressive outside-audited track record of outperformance, with #1 stocks generating an average annual return of +25% since 1988. Within the past 30 days, our consensus EPS projection has moved 1.53% lower. Barrick Gold is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold).
Investors should also note Barrick Gold's current valuation metrics, including its Forward P/E ratio of 16.31. For comparison, its industry has an average Forward P/E of 17.45, which means Barrick Gold is trading at a discount to the group.
It is also worth noting that GOLD currently has a PEG ratio of 8.16. This popular metric is similar to the widely-known P/E ratio, with the difference being that the PEG ratio also takes into account the company's expected earnings growth rate. GOLD's industry had an average PEG ratio of 2.87 as of yesterday's close.
The Mining - Gold industry is part of the Basic Materials sector. This industry currently has a Zacks Industry Rank of 106, which puts it in the top 42% of all 250+ industries.
The Zacks Industry Rank gauges the strength of our individual 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.
You can find more information on all of these metrics, and much more, on Zacks.com.
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