AngolGold Ashanti Earnings Slip on Lower Gold Prices
South Africa-based AngloGold Ashanti reported second-quarter 2015 earnings before markets opened Monday.
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South Africa-based AngloGold Ashanti Ltd. (NYSE: AU) reported second-quarter 2015 earnings before markets opened Monday. The gold miner posted adjusted earnings per share (EPS) of $0.06 on revenues of $1.06 billion. In the same period a year ago, the company reported a loss per share of $0.01 on revenues of $1.25 billion. Second-quarter results also compare to a consensus estimate for EPS of $0.13.
Second-quarter production totaled 1.01 million ounces of gold and the average selling price was $1,192 per ounce. Total cash costs in the second quarter were $628. All-in sustaining costs totaled $928 an ounce, down from $1,052 in the same quarter last year, but up slightly from $920 in the first quarter of this year. The average selling price in the second quarter of 2014 was $1,289, and in the first quarter of 2015 AngloGold received $1,217 per ounce.
For the third quarter, the company forecasts production of 900,000 to 950,000 ounces of gold and total cash costs between $770 and $820 per ounce. The forecast includes one month of production from the company’s Cripple Creek & Victor mine, which was sold to Newmont for $820 million in June.
For the full year, AngloGold is guiding production at 3.8 to 4.1 million ounces with cash costs in a range of $770 to $820 and all-in sustaining costs of $1,000 to $1,050 an ounce.
Srinivasan Venkatakrishnan, CEO of AngloGold Ashanti, said:
Cost management will continue to be a key driver for us. Whilst we’ve greatly improved the balance sheet following the sale of CC&V [Cripple Creek & Victor], this will not diminish our focus on improving free cash flow and returns through active portfolio management, capital discipline, and unrelenting focus on our operations.
AngloGold said it generated $71 million in free cash flow in the second quarter, but did not offer any financial guidance other than to say that capex has been revised from a prior total of $1 billion to $900 million.
In the U.S. premarket Monday morning AngloGold’s shares traded almost 9% higher, at $6.80 in a 52-week range of $5.64 to $17.43. The stock’s consensus price target is $12.74.
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Paul Ausick has been writing for 247Wallst.com for more than a decade. He has written extensively on investing in the energy, defense, and technology sectors. In a previous life, he wrote technical documentation and managed a marketing communications group in Silicon Valley.
He has a bachelor's degree in English from the University of Chicago and now lives in Montana, where he fishes for trout in the summer and stays inside during the winter.
