Retail sentiment flipped into extremely bullish territory (82/100) for Barrick Gold Corp after the miner reported upbeat production figures for the second quarter. The rise in sentiment was supported by extremely high message volumes (85/100), highlighting overwhelming enthusiasm among retail investors. Shares of the firm have risen over 4% on the news.
The company said its preliminary Q2 gold production stood at 948,000 ounces, and Q2 copper production reached 43,000 tonnes. It also disclosed preliminary Q2 sales of 956,000 ounces of gold and 42,000 tonnes of copper.
According to the firm, the preliminary Q2 gold production was higher than the first quarter due to increased production at its Turquoise Ridge facility, following the completed maintenance at the Sage autoclave in Q1. Continued ramp up at Porgera and significant increases at Tongon, North Mara, and Kibali also helped the rise in production figures. Barrick Gold said the production increases were partially offset by planned lower production at its Cortez and Phoenix facilities.
For 2024, the firm believes its gold and copper production is expected to progressively increase each quarter with a higher weighting in the second half.
Record gold prices have renewed investor attention in gold mining stocks recently. Weak economic data and relatively dovish commentary from the Fed have fueled speculation that a rate cut may be announced as early as September. That’s helped push Stocktwits sentiment for popular miner ETF $GDX into “bullish territory” again on high message volumes.
As for Wall Street’s expectations, Jefferies recently raised the price target on Barrick Gold to $23 from $22 while maintaining a ‘Buy’ rating on the stock. With the stock currently trading near the $19 level, the revised price target presents an upside potential of nearly 20%.
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