The most recent trading session ended with Barrick Gold (GOLD – Free Report) at $15.84, reflecting a +1.67% move from the previous trading day’s closing price. The move lagged the S&P 500’s daily gain of 1.83%. Elsewhere, the Dow Jones rose 1.65%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq rose 2.45%.
Heading into today, shares of the gold and copper mining company had lost 4.06% over the past month, outpacing the Basic Materials sector’s loss of 6.01% and lagging the S&P 500’s loss of 3.31% in that period.
The investment community will be closely watching Barrick Gold’s performance in its upcoming earnings report. The company is forecast to post earnings per share of $0.46, indicating a growth of 70.37% compared to the corresponding quarter of last year.
It is also important for investors to be aware of any recent changes to analyst estimates for Barrick Gold. These revisions help demonstrate the ever-changing nature of short-term business trends. As a result, upward estimate revisions reflect analyst positivity toward the company’s business and its ability to generate profits.
Our research shows that these estimate changes are directly correlated with near-term stock price movement. 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, which ranges from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell), has a remarkable track record of outperformance, validated by third-party audits, with stocks rated No. 1 rating deliver an average annual return of +25%. since the year 1988. Over the past 30 days, the Zacks Consensus EPS estimate has moved 0.57% lower. Barrick Gold currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).
In terms of valuation, Barrick Gold currently trades at a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.9. This represents a discount compared to the industry’s average forward price-to-earnings ratio of 9.88.
Investors should also note that GOLD currently has a PEG ratio of 0.28. The PEG ratio is similar to the commonly used price-to-earnings ratio, but this metric also takes into account the company’s expected earnings growth. The average PEG ratio for the mining-gold sector was 0.5 at market close yesterday.
The Mining Gold Industry is part of the Basic Materials Sector. Currently, this industry has a Zacks Industry Rank of 86, putting it in the top 35% of all 250+ industries.
The Zacks Industry Rank measures 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% of sectors perform better than the bottom half by a factor of 2 to 1.
Keep in mind that you can rely on Zacks.com to see all of these metrics impacting the stock, and more, in subsequent trading sessions.