The last decade has been pretty weak for gold investors. Gold futures have recorded some of its lowest numbers, with 2018 seeing a 7.1% decrease since the January.
But some analysts are seeing a sign of hope on the horizon. Gold is finally trading at more than $1,600 per ounce at the time of writing this article, and that's the best price since July. Historically, gold has seen the best prices in the months of January and February. So, with that in mind, here are two strong gold-mining stocks to start the new year off right.
Barrick Gold (TSX:ABX)(NYSE:ABX) hasn't been immune to the recent hits in the gold markets. The stock saw a decline of 32% at its weakest point due to lower earnings and weaker outlooks.
But analysts could be seeing a rebound in the industry, and Barrick has had one of the strongest. The stock price started out 2018 at $19.01, and as of writing, the stock is back up to over $18 a share. That's quite a leap from the summer lows of $12.82.
The best part is that we're not even in the strongest season yet, and if you're going to choose a gold stock, Barrick is a pretty safe bet. The company has a market cap of $21.27 billion, with strong Q3 results in October. The company reported revenues of $1.84 billion, producing 1.15 million ounces of gold in the quarter alone.
Barrick has also made some moves to keep its finances balanced, selling its research and development company, reducing its technology staff, shrinking head-office management, and bringing debt down from about $17 billion to under $7 billion.
The company's recent acquisition of Randgold Resources also makes this stock attractive. When the deal finalizes Jan. 1, it'll make Barrick the largest gold producer in the world.
With a market cap of 4.8 billion, Kinross Gold (TSX:K)(NYSE:KGC) may not be as big as Barrick, but it definitely has some strengths that make it a great buy. First off, the company also had a strong Q3, with gold production at more than 585,000 ounces and a reported revenue of $753.9 million.
While Barrick is shrinking its exploration, Kinross's strengths lie with extending production through exploration. The company has also acquired assets from Barrick and is doing a good job of extracting even more from these assets.
Kinross may not have seen the rebound that Barrick has in the last few months, lying pretty flat over the last few months. But if the last few years are any indicator, January and February should see a strong beginning of 2019 for this company at a share price almost 80% cheaper than Barrick's.
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