Topic: Growth Stocks

YAMANA GOLD $19.30 – Toronto symbol YRI

YAMANA GOLD $19.30 (Toronto symbol YRI; TSINetwork Rating: Speculative) (416-815-0220; www.- yamana.com; Shares outstanding: 751.3 million; Market cap: $14.5 billion; Dividend yield: 1.3%) owns seven operating gold mines in Mexico, Brazil, Chile and Argentina. It also holds a 12.5% stake in the Alumbrera copper/gold mine in Argentina, and has a number of other properties in advanced stages of development.

In the quarter ended June 30, 2012, Yamana’s revenue fell 6.6%, to $535.7 million from $573.3 million a year earlier (all figures except share price and market cap in U.S. dollars). Gold production and prices rose, but prices for copper and silver, which are both significant byproducts of Yamana’s gold mining, dropped. Cash flow per share fell 27.3%, to $0.32 from $0.44.

Yamana held a high cash balance of $698.9 million, or $0.93 a share, on June 30. Its $765.5 million of debt is just 5.5% of its market cap. The shares yield 1.3%.

The company recently completed its $404-million U.S. purchase of Extorre Gold, which owns the advanced- stage Cerro Moro project in Argentina. Cerro Moro holds as much as 2.4 million ounces of gold.

The purchase carries above-average risk. That’s because Argentina nationalized the Argentine oil unit of Spanish energy firm Repsol earlier this year, and investors are concerned about similar moves in the mining industry. However, Yamana got a bargain, and it already operates one mine in Argentina. That experience will help it bring Cerro Moro into production.

The company will likely produce 1.2 million to 1.3 million ounces of gold this year. In 2013, it is starting up new mines at its Mercedes project in Mexico and three development properties. That should raise production to between 1.5 million and 1.7 million ounces.

Yamana Gold is still a buy.

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