Kirkland Lake Gold Ltd is doing the impossible during the coronavirus crisis. This Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) just doubled its dividend. 

 

Kirkland Lake Gold is a Canadian gold producer with operations in Canada and Australia. It has three prominent mines: Macassa Mine and Detour Lake Mine in Northern Ontario and the Fosterville Mine in Victoria, Australia. 

 

It produced 974,615 ounces in 2019 with the 2020 target production of 1,470,000 to 1,540,000 ounces. 

 

 

On Mar 18, while the US stock markets were melting down in a panic sell-off, Kirkland announced it had bought 10.1 million shares of its 20 million share buyback plan for $350 million. 

 

"When you consider our high-quality assets and industry-leading operating and financial performance, as well as the outlook for a very strong 2020, our current share price represents an excellent buying opportunity," said Tony Makuch, President and CEO of Kirkland.

 

Shares have fallen 38% year-to-date.

 

 

They are cheap on a P/E basis with a forward P/E of just 5.9. 

 

 

At the same time, the company also announced it was raising its dividend by 100% to $0.125 from $0.06 a quarter. 

 

That gives the dividend a current yield of 1.7%. 

 

It was the 12th quarterly dividend since the policy was announced in March 2017. 

 

"Our decision to double the dividend at this time reflects both the strength of our balance sheet and the ability of our three cornerstone assets, Fosterville, Macassa and Detour Lake, to generate significant amounts of free cash flow, particularly in the current strong gold price environment," Makuch added.

 

 

The company's not the only one who is bullish. 

 

Analysts expect sales to rise 80.5% in 2020 to $2.49 billion from $1.38 billion in 2019. 

 

2 analysts also raised 2020 earnings estimates in the last 2 months, which pushed up the Zacks Consensus to $4.05 from $3.34. 

 

That's a year-over-year gain of 47.8%, as the company only made $2.74 in 2019. 

 

With gold prices hot, and for those investors looking for a miner that has strong cash flow, Kirkland is one to keep on the short list.

 

 

The biotech sector is projected to surge beyond $775 billion by 2024 as scientists develop treatments for thousands of diseases. They’re also finding ways to edit the human genome to literally erase our vulnerability to these diseases.

 

Zacks has just released Century of Biology: 7 Biotech Stocks to Buy Right Now to help investors profit from 7 stocks poised for outperformance. Our recent biotech recommendations have produced gains of +50%, +83% and +164% in as little as 2 months. The stocks in this report could perform even better.