Bloom Energy, Almonty Industries, Barrick Gold – Strengthened for the year-end rally

Barrick Gold – New opportunity after the gold correction

One of the losers of the US election was undoubtedly the gold price. Since reaching a high of USD 2,790 per troy ounce at the end of October, the precious metal corrected by around 4% to its current level of USD 2,684. The second-largest producer, Barrick Gold, was also dragged down, losing more than 14% since its interim high in mid-October.

Despite strong quarterly figures released last week, the stock still has further downside potential from a chart perspective if the price slips below the prominent downward trend at USD 17.70 that has been in place since August 2020. This could result in another test of the year's lows at USD 14.49.

Due to the increased price of gold, the Company recorded a significant revenue growth of 17.8% to USD 3.37 billion, the largest in the last four years.

Although earnings per share slightly missed expectations and were USD 0.02 lower at USD 0.30, they still exceeded the previous year's figure by USD 0.06 per share.

Despite a decline in the volume of gold mined and sold, a drop of 9.2% in production to 943,000 ounces and a decline in sales of 5.8% to 967,000 ounces, the higher selling price compensated for these losses. Overall, Barrick Gold posted a net profit of USD 483 million, an increase of 31.3% over the previous year.

Almonty Industries – Production start approaching

Like Barrick Gold, tungsten producer Almonty Industries saw its share price more than double to CAD 0.97, reaching an interim high in mid-October. Since then, the chart has been reducing its short-term overbought condition, which could come to an end with the test of the upward trend established in September at CAD 0.80.

It is not unlikely that investors will take another bold step at this level, given that the scheduled start of production at the Sangdong tungsten mine in South Korea, which is scheduled for March 2025, is imminent, which would make Almonty Industries one of the largest tungsten producers outside China and Russia. In the future, the mine will account for 30% of global tungsten production outside China.

Equipment installation at the Sangdong mine began months ago, supported by compelling results from previous tests. The results of a recent technical review of the pilot processing plant showed a tungsten concentrate of over 60%, which was confirmed by the South Korean laboratory Korea Energy Technology Evaluation and Planning and achieved an ore yield of 82%.

The successful test production of the flotation processing technology gave the Company the necessary assurance regarding the scalability of its production processes. On the basis of the knowledge gained, the production processes are now being adapted to exploit the identified optimization potential. The latest test run showed that the tungsten yield from the ore rock can be increased to up to 86.3%, and the tungsten content (WO3) in the concentrate to be sold increases from 60% to approximately 65%.

Bloom Energy – Party mood at the weekend

The stock of fuel cell company Bloom Energy was in a celebratory mood in Friday's trading. With a gain of 23.40% to USD 13.17, the price continues to work on its bottom formation, which could come to an end with the break of the downward trend established in February 2023 at USD 15.22.

The stock was buoyed by the fact that it met its full-year forecasts and achieved a significantly higher margin despite weak Q3 figures. The gross margin climbed from -1.3% last year to a whopping 23.8%. The operating margin also increased significantly from -25.9% to -2.9%. These positive developments are a clear sign that profitability is now within reach.

In particular, the current quarterly loss of USD -14.7 million represents a significant improvement compared to the loss of almost USD 170 million recorded in the same quarter of the previous year. The Company also reiterated its guidance for the year and expects revenues of between USD 1.4 billion and USD 1.6 billion, with a targeted gross margin of 28% and an operating profit of USD 75 million to USD 100 million.

Despite the vast margin increases, the figures were sobering. Revenues fell by 17.5% to USD 330.4 million, which is not only a significant decrease but also fell short of analysts' expectations by almost USD 53 million. Instead of the expected adjusted profit of USD 0.09 per share, a loss of USD -0.01 per share was recorded.

After an eventful week in terms of world politics, gold prices fell, bringing Barrick Gold to its knees despite good numbers. At Bloom Energy, the forecast of further increasing margins was met with enthusiasm. Almonty Industries is preparing for the planned start of production at the Sangdong mine in March.