(Kitco News) - Sold production and a significant jump in gold prices helped to drive robust earnings as the world’s biggest gold producer beat first-quarter expectations.
Thursday, before the North American trading session, Newmont Corporation (NYSE: NEM) announced adjusted net earnings per share of $0.55, up from $0.40 EPS reported in the first quarter of last year. According to consensus estimates, analysts were looking for earnings of around $0.49.
The company said its revenue for the first quarter was $4.02 billion, beating consensus estimates of $3.65 billion.
The company said that it produced 2.2 million gold equivalent ounces; however, the company’s cash margins jumped in the first quarter due to an average gold price of more than $2,000 an ounce.
“Average realized gold price was $2,090, an increase of $86 per ounce over the prior quarter,” the company said. “Gold AISC [All In Sustaining Costs] per ounce was largely in line with the prior quarter at $1,439 per ounce, with a slight improvement from lower sustaining capital spend.”
Tom Palmer, President and CEO of Newmont, said that the company is on track to achieve its goals to create an attractive value proposition for new and existing investors,
“Newmont delivered a strong first quarter operational performance, producing 2.2 million gold equivalent ounces and generating over $1.4 billion in cash from operations before working capital changes," said Palm in a prepared statement. "Underpinned by the gold industry's leading portfolio of Tier 1 gold and copper operations, we remain well-positioned to achieve our full-year guidance and deliver meaningful synergies and productivity improvements from the combined portfolio.”
The senior gold producer said it will deliver $288 million in dividends to shareholders after declaring a dividend of $0.25 per share of common stock for the first quarter of 2024.
After a solid start to the year, the company said that it expects production to ramp up in the second half of 2024.
“Operations at Cerro Negro are currently suspended as a full investigation is conducted following the tragic fatalities of two members of the Newmont workforce on April 9, 2024. In addition, operations are temporarily suspended at Telfer, one of Newmont's non-core assets, as further work is completed to remediate the safe operation of the tailings storage facility,” the company said.
Neils Christensen
Neils Christensen has a diploma in journalism from Lethbridge College and has more than a decade of reporting experience working for news organizations throughout Canada. His experiences include covering territorial and federal politics in Nunavut, Canada. He has worked exclusively within the financial sector since 2007, when he started with the Canadian Economic Press. Neils can be contacted at: 1 866 925 4826 ext. 1526 nchristensen at kitco.com @KitcoNewsNOW
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