Barrick Mining Corporation B saw a 5% year-over-year decline in first-quarter 2026 gold production to 719,000 ounces. This follows a roughly 19% year-over-year fall in the prior quarter. First-quarter production also fell 17% from 871,000 ounces in the fourth quarter of 2025.
Production was impacted by lower grades at Nevada Gold Mines (“NGM”), Pueblo Viejo, North Mara and Kibali, which more than offset increased output at Loulo-Gounkoto, driven by the ramp-up of operations following the return of control in December 2025.
Nonetheless, Barrick expects production to increase sequentially throughout the remainder of 2026, with second-quarter gold production projected in the band of 730,000-770,000 ounces. The uptick is expected to be driven by the ramp-up across Loulo-Gounkoto and Goldrush mines, as well as mine sequencing across the NGM sites.
Production growth would be critical to sustain revenues and margins in the coming quarters. The consensus estimate implies a gold production of roughly 754,000 ounces for the second quarter, indicating around 5% rise from the prior quarter.
Meanwhile, the company reaffirmed its production forecast for 2026, with attributable gold production expected in the range of 2.9-3.25 million ounces. While Loulo-Gounkoto is poised to deliver additional production along with modestly higher output from Pueblo Viejo, output is expected to be lower across Veladero, North Mara and Carlin in 2026. Turquoise Ridge is also projected to see lower grades.
Among Barrick’s major peers, Newmont Corporation NEM saw lower gold production for the first quarter, partly linked to its strategic divestment of non-core assets. NEM reported a roughly 16% year-over-year and 10% sequential decline in attributable gold production to 1.3 million ounces. Newmont expects second-quarter 2026 production to be below the first-quarter level.
Agnico Eagle Mines Limited’s AEM gold production fell nearly 6% year over year in the first quarter to 825,109 ounces, impacted by reduced output at Macassa and Meadowbank on lower grades. AEM expects gold production to be weighted to a stronger second half. For full-year 2026, Agnico Eagle maintained gold production expectations between 3.3 million and 3.5 million ounces.
B’s Price Performance, Valuation & Estimates
Barrick’s shares have gained 12.8% in the past six months compared with the Zacks Mining – Gold industry’s increase of 15.1%.
From a valuation standpoint, B is currently trading at a forward 12-month earnings multiple of 10.4, a roughly 1.8% discount when stacked up with the industry average of 10.59X. It carries a Value Score of B.
The Zacks Consensus Estimate for B’s 2026 and 2027 earnings implies a year-over-year rise of 51.7% and 17%, respectively. The EPS estimates for 2026 and 2027 have been trending higher over the past 30 days.
B currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).
You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.
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This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).