Barrick Gold earnings report: good as gold, as Barrick triples profits and income

Today Barrick Gold Corporation (GOLD), the world’s second largest gold mining company in terms of production, posted their Q4 and 2023 full year financial results.

The results themselves were out-and-out positive, and exceeded market expectations by a long way, in spite of a flat copper price and a lower-than-expected free cash flow.

However, the company’s quarterly dividend – unchanged at $0.10 – left much to be desired.

Triple the profits

Among the most surprising – and heartening results were the mining company’s profits, which climbed steeply. Barrick’s profit attributable to equity holders was $1.27 billion for the year, more than tripling from 2022’s amount of $432 million a year earlier.

This, for investors, meant effectively triple the profits than in 2022 – up from $0.24 per share to $0.72 per share.

Meanwhile, Barrick Gold’s net income for Q4 2023 was $479 million, up significantly from Q3’s $378 million. Net income for the whole year, meanwhile, was $1.2 billion, up dramatically from 2022’s $432 million.

Earnings up too

Net earnings also increased by 200% to $0.72 per share, and adjusted net earnings increased by 12% to $0.84 per share, while the quarterly dividend was maintained at 10 cents per share. 

Cash flows

In the results, Barrick reported that its operating cash flows increased year-on-year by 7% to $3.7 billion and free cash flow was up by 50% at $646 million.

Production

The company also had a relatively positive year in terms of output and production, with Barrick Gold announcing in their financial results press release that:

A strong finish to 2023 boosted Barrick’s full-year gold production to 4.05 million ounces and its copper output to 420 million pounds, while its Tier One gold mines capitalized on a record gold price to deliver a robust financial performance… President and chief executive Mark Bristow said despite picking up the pace in the latter half of the year, Barrick couldn’t quite make up for the challenges it faced in the first half, and gold production fell slightly short of the annual guidance as flagged with the Q3 results.”

The Barrick Gold stock price

The Barrick Gold stock price has been trending downward lately, with shares down more than 11% month-on-month since mid January.

Despite the positive results, the company’s shares experience a dip on release of the results, dropping from $14.50 at markets open today to a low of $14.02, before trending upwards again to $14.15.

The Barrick Gold PE Ratio

Barrick’s positive results, combined with their flat dividend of ten cents, means that the company’s PE ratio is currently sitting at roughly 479.50 – a very high amount for a company of its calibre.