Barrick Mining (ABX.TO)

If you need a gold, AEM-T has been a better executer. He would prefer owning gold outright if you want exposure to gold. Don’t bet on the companies.

It is cheap. If gold ever gets going it will have a run. If the US ever gets into recession, the market will love gold. (Analysts’ target: $19.92).

He's overweight gold. Barrick's costs have been high and they carry outrageous debt, which they have cleaned up in past years. This stock has done nothing for a decade, and is far down from its peaks. There's no production growth. Look at a mid-size company instead. Barrick will underperform the sector. Effect of cryotocurrency investment taking away from gold investment? He doesn't know, but he doesn't belive in and wouldn't buy any cryptos.

The major gold companies used to focus on pure volume. No longer. They have shrunk their asset base and focused 70% of their core to generate free cash flow. The core will take them forward. Not just Barrick, but the reserves of many majors have been going down. Today, paying down the debt and generating cash flow are their priorities.

(A Top Pick Jan. 2/18, Down 12%) Surprised by awful performance, but he would stick with it. Likes the sector. Give it time. When gold hits $1,400 it'll wake investors up.

Cleaned up their balance sheet. Still have a lot of debt though they've reigned it in. ROIC went from -8% to 3% in just two years. They're doing the right things.

Looks very similar to the actual GLD chart on gold. It's turned the corner, and has built a very, very nice base. Believes it has $25 written all over it in a very short time. If we get gold up through $1400, this has plenty of upside. (Analysts' price target is $19.31.)

A big fan of this company, especially at this time. Certainly had some tough time time in the last 2-3 years with a lot of debt, and it still does. But one of his key metric is return on invested capital and it seems it has finally bottomed and it’s starting to recover. It’s not carried away but it’s in the right direction and doesn’t need to do much to justify the price. He likes it quite a lot.

He likes gold and has been buying it but he buys it through ETFs like ZGD-T. He is playing for a rally where ABX-T gets to $22, 15% upside. He would sell at that point.

When it comes to gold, you have to ask why you are there. You are either playing defence, or as an offense thinking gold is going to go to $2000 an ounce. When talking about companies, you either feel there is something unique about management or they have a competitive advantage. His strategy for clients is to own gold bullion, which is his way of playing defence. Gold acts as a pretty good hedge against geopolitical or mayhem that may be out there. He would sell this and buy gold bullion.

While he likes the improved balance sheet and the cash costs, he is nervous about the production pipeline.

It struggles with growth because of their size. It is roughly 50% of the XGD-T ETF. He would go to the ETF for the safety from the diversification. He would like to see ABX-T sell a mine to make themselves smaller so perhaps they can grow again.

A very, very large gold company. Attempting to grow is very difficult, whereas a smaller company can, and can even get taken out. The problem is that they all tend to be below the price where you first bought them. Gold has been firming up a little lately. This company would not be his choice.

He prefers a stock to the bullion. How can you calculate what gold is worth. The price of gold is what it is and you ask if the company can make much money. ABX-T cannot make much money right here. If we get a lift in the gold price then you get a bigger lift in the price of the stock.

He would call this a Buy, but it is not clear-cut. It is cyclical. One concern is that they have such a high level of debt. When things go well this company is going to do great, but not so well when things are bad. It will be more volatile than the market, but overall, a good company.