Topic: How To Invest

Dear Pat: What do you think of Barrick Gold at its current price? Thank you for your thoughts and advice.

Article Excerpt

Barrick Gold, $19.02, symbol ABX on Toronto (Shares outstanding: 1.0 billion; Market cap: $19.5 billion; www.barrick.com), has moved down along with gold prices. Gold has fallen from almost $1,800 U.S. an ounce in September 2012 to $1,470 U.S. today; Barrick’s share price is down from just over $55 in that same period. The company is now considering selling some of its less important gold assets, including three mines that make up its Yilgarn South Division in Australia. These projects could be worth at least $600 million U.S. Barrick is also taking a close look at all of its current assets and could sell some that are currently underperforming. That may include its Barrick Energy division, which it entered into as a hedge against rising oil prices but hasn’t performed as well as expected. Barrick’s debt of $13.9 billion is a very high 71% of its $19.5 billion market cap, although the company does hold cash of $2.1 billion. Unless gold prices rebound,…