Category: Canada

* TSX ends up 1.1% at 20,452.87

* Posts its highest closing level since Sept. 18

* Industrials and bond proxies among biggest gainers

* National Bank of Canada rallies after Q4 results

Dec 1 (Reuters) – Canada’s main stock index rose on
Friday to a two-and-a-half-month high as comments by Federal
Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell raised investor hopes that major
central banks will shift to cutting interest rates in 2024.

The Toronto Stock Exchange’s S&P/TSX composite index
ended up 216.58 points, or 1.1%, at 20,452.87, its
highest closing level since Sept. 18.

“Santa (Claus) is coming to town and he is rewarding all
stock holders,” said Barry Schwartz, portfolio manager at Baskin
Financial Services. “Today, Federal Reserve Chairman Powell
spoke and I think the markets are thinking that global
synchronized rate cuts are coming in 2024.”

U.S. stocks also advanced as Powell reaffirmed the U.S.
central bank’s intent to be cautious on raising interest rates
further to tame inflation but also offering fresh optimism on
its progress so far.

The industrials sector rallied 2.1%, while bond proxies,
such as real estate and utilities, which tend to produce
predictable cash flows and could particularly benefit from a
peak in interest rates, were among the other standout
performers.

Real estate rose 2.2% and utilities ended 2% higher.

The TSX notched in November its biggest monthly advance in
three years.

Financials added 0.7% on Friday as National Bank of Canada
reported higher fourth-quarter profit. Its shares rose
4.8% while shares of Bank of Montreal also climbed,
rising 2%, as the bank forecast more cost savings from its $16
billion acquisition of U.S. lender Bank of the West.

The banks “are tightening up on lending and could face
another challenging year ahead, but we’re not seeing growth
falling off a cliff,” said Angelo Kourkafas, a senior investment
strategist at Edward Jones.

Domestic data showed the economy adding 24,900 jobs in
November, more than analysts expected.
(Reporting by Fergal Smith in Toronto and Shashwat Chauhan in
Bengaluru; Editing by Tasim Zahid and Sandra Maler)

River & Mercantile Asset Management LLP decreased its holdings in Barrick Gold Corp (NYSE:GOLD – Free Report) (TSE:ABX) by 1.4% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 281,391 shares of the gold and copper producer’s stock after selling 3,938 shares during the quarter. Barrick Gold accounts for about 0.9% of River & Mercantile Asset Management LLP’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 24th largest position. River & Mercantile Asset Management LLP’s holdings in Barrick Gold were worth $4,765,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the business. HM Payson & Co. raised its stake in Barrick Gold by 58.2% during the 2nd quarter. HM Payson & Co. now owns 1,740 shares of the gold and copper producer’s stock worth $29,000 after acquiring an additional 640 shares during the period. RFP Financial Group LLC bought a new stake in Barrick Gold during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $30,000. Resurgent Financial Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Barrick Gold during the 4th quarter worth approximately $36,000. FWL Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in Barrick Gold during the 4th quarter worth approximately $36,000. Finally, Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV raised its stake in Barrick Gold by 151.5% during the 2nd quarter. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV now owns 2,198 shares of the gold and copper producer’s stock worth $37,000 after acquiring an additional 1,324 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 58.20% of the company’s stock.

Barrick Gold Trading Down 0.2 %

GOLD stock traded down $0.03 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $17.56. 4,135,424 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 16,113,909. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a quick ratio of 2.28 and a current ratio of 3.07. Barrick Gold Corp has a one year low of $13.82 and a one year high of $20.75. The stock has a market capitalization of $30.83 billion, a PE ratio of 586.67, a PEG ratio of 1.49 and a beta of 0.46. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $15.77 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $16.01.

Barrick Gold (NYSE:GOLD – Get Free Report) (TSE:ABX) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 2nd. The gold and copper producer reported $0.24 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.21 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $2.86 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.93 billion. Barrick Gold had a net margin of 0.52% and a return on equity of 3.88%. The business’s revenue was up 13.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.13 earnings per share. Equities research analysts expect that Barrick Gold Corp will post 0.81 EPS for the current year.

Barrick Gold Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 30th will be issued a $0.10 dividend. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.28%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, November 29th. Barrick Gold’s payout ratio is presently 1,333.33%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have recently commented on the stock. Scotiabank lowered their target price on shares of Barrick Gold from $26.00 to $25.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, November 3rd. StockNews.com raised shares of Barrick Gold from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, November 23rd. Citigroup lowered their target price on shares of Barrick Gold from $20.00 to $18.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday. Veritas Investment Research downgraded shares of Barrick Gold from a “buy” rating to a “reduce” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 4th. Finally, CSFB lowered their target price on shares of Barrick Gold from $22.00 to $20.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, August 17th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $22.18.

Get Our Latest Stock Analysis on Barrick Gold

About Barrick Gold

(Free Report)

Barrick Gold Corporation is a sector-leading gold and copper producer.  Its shares trade on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol GOLD and on the Toronto Stock Exchange under the symbol ABX.
 
In January 2019 Barrick merged with Randgold Resources and in July that year it combined its gold mines in Nevada, USA, with those of Newmont Corporation in a joint venture, Nevada Gold Mines, which is majority-owned and operated by Barrick.

Read More

Want to see what other hedge funds are holding GOLD? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for Barrick Gold Corp (NYSE:GOLD – Free Report) (TSE:ABX).

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On November 30 major players in the Bitcoin mining industry, Hut 8 Mining Corp. and US Bitcoin Corp (USBTC), announced their merger to create a new entity known as Hut 8 Corp or New Hut. The news comes just months before the highly anticipated Bitcoin halving event in 2024.

The merger brings together the 825 MW of energy across 11 sites focused on Bitcoin mining, hosting, managed services, and high-performance computing.

Strategic Positioning for the Impending Bitcoin Halving

According to New Hut CEO Jaime Leverton, the combination creates the largest publicly traded Bitcoin miner in the world based on hash rate.

With the upcoming Bitcoin halving projected to take place in April 2024, the merger is intended to strategically position the newly formed Hut 8 Corp for continued growth and efficiency gains. The halving event, which happens every four years, will cut the block reward for Bitcoin miners in half overnight.

“New Hut is laser-focused on driving efficiency and improvement across our spectrum of operations to ensure that we are well positioned and uniquely nimble as we approach the halving and beyond,” New Hut President Asher Genoot said in the announcement.

The merger allows the company to leverage economies of scale and operational expertise ahead of the major drop in revenue miners will face after the halving.

According to Leverton, the combined strengths will allow New Hut 8 Corp to stay resilient despite the impending challenges of the Bitcoin halving. The company seeks to continue expanding, with a pipeline of greenfield and brownfield growth opportunities.

Trading Under New Stock Symbols

Effective December 4, the shares of Hut 8 Corp will begin trading under the new ticker symbol HUT on the Nasdaq stock exchange and the Toronto Stock Exchange. The merger terms dictate that shareholders of legacy Hut 8 Mining will receive 0.2 shares of New Hut common stock for each Hut 8 share. Meanwhile, USBTC shareholders will get 0.6716 shares of the new stock for each of their previous shares.

The completion of the merger marks a new chapter for the two leading Bitcoin mining companies, as they join forces and rebrand as a U.S.-based entity. Their strategic alignment ahead of the halving seeks to strengthen their position in the Bitcoin mining space.

Uranium sector ‘scrambling’ to fill supply gap

Source:Mining.com

November 23, 2023

The price of uranium will hit triple-digits for the first time since 2007 as nations weaning off oil and seeking energy security deplete nuclear fuel supplies, the world’s largest investment fund in the physical metal says.

The spot price for uranium should rise from $80 per lb. this week to $100 or more per lb. within a year to 18 months, John Ciampaglia, CEO of Sprott Asset Management, which runs the Sprott Physical Uranium Trust (TSX: U.U for USD; U.UN for CAD). The trust holds 62 million lb. of yellowcake uranium valued at $4.9 billion. Global yellowcake supply might reach 145 million lb. this year or next, Ciampaglia said, citing the World Nuclear Association. But annual demand is already at 180 million lb. and the industry group expects it to nearly double to 300 million lb. by 2040. Some 60 nuclear plants are under construction globally and more are planned. Countries like Germany and Japan that considered phasing them out are reversing course.

“You’ve got an industry that’s scrambling to meet the supply requirement that’s forming and the market today is already out of balance,” Ciampaglia said . “Around 2030, there’s a very large supply deficit that could play out and that’s why the price of uranium is obviously starting to move.”

The price of yellowcake, also known as triuranium octoxide or U3O8, has increased more than 50% this year. The green energy transition is gathering pace as governments from California to Europe ease aversion to nuclear power more than a decade after the Fukushima disaster. They also want reliable and independent backups to wind and solar energy grids after the war in Ukraine showed the pitfall of relying on Russian natural gas.

Sanctions against Russia don’t play a large part in supply bottlenecks, Ciampaglia said. They skirt former Soviet republic Kazakhstan, which produces a world-leading 45% of all uranium, although Russia itself produces about 8% of world output. However, the country accounts for about 40% of global uranium enrichment plants needed to make fuel, which is forcing the West to rapidly invest and develop its own, he said.

Goehring & Rozencwajg, a New York-based fund manager, began investing about a fifth of its $500 million in assets under management in the uranium sector in late 2017. Cameco had stated its closure plans and state-owned Kazatomprom (LSE: KAP) of Kazakhstan said it would curb output.

A coup in July in Niger, which produces 4% of the metal, has prevented its output from reaching the market. The lack of supply is exacerbated by funds like Sprott that buy the physical asset and take it off the market, Goehring & Rozencwajg said in a report.

“Financial accumulation is likely to accelerate once speculators realize the small size of the market and the precarious commercial inventory situation,” the company said. “Fuel buyers feel insecure and under-covered for the first time in nearly 15 years. Although it is an opaque market, all signs point to uranium entering into a sustained and frenetic bull market.”

Sprott says it’s considering a 5% part of its fund that could be bought by, say, a utility or govern- ment, at a discount to the spot market price and actually be used in a power plant. The concept must be approved by regulators, Ciampaglia said. The firm also offers two exchange-traded funds of uranium company equities. About 80% of the trust’s investors are large institutions, hedge funds or family offices, he said.

“Our goal is to have as large a vehicle as possible, as liquid as possible so that more and more investors can participate in the sector, which is obviously going through a renewed level of inter- est,” the CEO said. “Most of the world is pivoting back to nuclear energy after largely ignoring it for 10 years.” ●

By Adriano Marchese

International Battery Metals said it has received a preliminary approval to list on the venture exchange arm of the Toronto Stock Exchange which should help with exposure to more investors.