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Barrick Mining's Cash Strength: Can Shareholder Rewards Keep Rising?
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Key Takeaways
Barrick generated $4.5B in 2024 operating cash flow, returning $1.2B via dividends and repurchases.
The board approved a $1B share repurchase plan, with $411M completed in the first half of 2025.
B shares are up 119.6% YTD and trade at a 13.4% discount to the industry's forward earnings multiple.
Barrick Mining Corporation (B - Free Report) is capitalizing on its strong cash generation and healthy balance sheet to deliver value to its shareholders, underscoring its identity as a capital return-driven gold producer. It generated strong operating cash flows of roughly $4.5 billion in 2024, with a significant portion funneled back to investors. Barrick returned about $1.2 billion to its shareholders last year through dividends and repurchases.
In February 2025, Barrick’s board approved a new program for the repurchase of up to $1 billion of its outstanding common shares. It repurchased shares worth $411 million under this program during the first half of 2025. The company’s commitment to a sustainable base dividend, bolstered by performance-linked distributions, also reflects a disciplined approach to capital allocation. The performance-linked dividend policy enhances shareholder returns when its liquidity is strong. Barrick offers a dividend yield of 1.8% at the current stock price with a payout ratio of 25%. A ratio below 60% is a good indicator that the dividend will be sustainable.
B ended the second quarter with cash and cash equivalents of around $4.8 billion. It generated strong operating cash flows of roughly $1.3 billion in the quarter, up 15% year over year. Free cash flow rose to around $395 million from $340 million in the prior-year quarter. With its strong liquidity and steady cash generation, Barrick is well-positioned to seize attractive exploration and development opportunities, while maintaining capital returns and funding organic growth.
Among its major peers, Newmont Corporation (NEM - Free Report) has delivered roughly $2 billion to its shareholders through dividends and share repurchases since the beginning of 2025. Newmont has also doubled its share repurchase authorization to $6 billion with an additional $3 billion share repurchase program. Newmont has already repurchased shares worth $2.8 billion under this authorization since February 2024, including $1.5 billion in the first half of 2025.
Agnico Eagle Mines Limited (AEM - Free Report) is capitalizing on strong free cash flow to aggressively enhance shareholder value. Agnico Eagle delivered record shareholder returns totaling roughly $300 million in the second quarter, bringing the cumulative return to $550 million for the first half. Agnico Eagle returned around one-third of its free cash flow through dividends and buybacks in the same time frame.
B’s Price Performance, Valuation & Estimates
Barrick’s shares have surged 119.6% year to date compared with the Zacks Mining – Gold industry’s rise of 121.7%, courtesy of the gold price rally.
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
From a valuation standpoint, B is currently trading at a forward 12-month earnings multiple of 14.35, a roughly 13.4% discount when stacked up with the industry average of 16.57X. It carries a Value Score of A.
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
The Zacks Consensus Estimate for B’s 2025 and 2026 earnings implies a year-over-year rise of 65.9% and 17.8%, respectively. The EPS estimates for 2025 and 2026 have been trending higher over the past 60 days.
Image: Bigstock
Barrick Mining's Cash Strength: Can Shareholder Rewards Keep Rising?
Key Takeaways
Barrick Mining Corporation (B - Free Report) is capitalizing on its strong cash generation and healthy balance sheet to deliver value to its shareholders, underscoring its identity as a capital return-driven gold producer. It generated strong operating cash flows of roughly $4.5 billion in 2024, with a significant portion funneled back to investors. Barrick returned about $1.2 billion to its shareholders last year through dividends and repurchases.
In February 2025, Barrick’s board approved a new program for the repurchase of up to $1 billion of its outstanding common shares. It repurchased shares worth $411 million under this program during the first half of 2025. The company’s commitment to a sustainable base dividend, bolstered by performance-linked distributions, also reflects a disciplined approach to capital allocation. The performance-linked dividend policy enhances shareholder returns when its liquidity is strong. Barrick offers a dividend yield of 1.8% at the current stock price with a payout ratio of 25%. A ratio below 60% is a good indicator that the dividend will be sustainable.
B ended the second quarter with cash and cash equivalents of around $4.8 billion. It generated strong operating cash flows of roughly $1.3 billion in the quarter, up 15% year over year. Free cash flow rose to around $395 million from $340 million in the prior-year quarter. With its strong liquidity and steady cash generation, Barrick is well-positioned to seize attractive exploration and development opportunities, while maintaining capital returns and funding organic growth.
Among its major peers, Newmont Corporation (NEM - Free Report) has delivered roughly $2 billion to its shareholders through dividends and share repurchases since the beginning of 2025. Newmont has also doubled its share repurchase authorization to $6 billion with an additional $3 billion share repurchase program. Newmont has already repurchased shares worth $2.8 billion under this authorization since February 2024, including $1.5 billion in the first half of 2025.
Agnico Eagle Mines Limited (AEM - Free Report) is capitalizing on strong free cash flow to aggressively enhance shareholder value. Agnico Eagle delivered record shareholder returns totaling roughly $300 million in the second quarter, bringing the cumulative return to $550 million for the first half. Agnico Eagle returned around one-third of its free cash flow through dividends and buybacks in the same time frame.
B’s Price Performance, Valuation & Estimates
Barrick’s shares have surged 119.6% year to date compared with the Zacks Mining – Gold industry’s rise of 121.7%, courtesy of the gold price rally.
From a valuation standpoint, B is currently trading at a forward 12-month earnings multiple of 14.35, a roughly 13.4% discount when stacked up with the industry average of 16.57X. It carries a Value Score of A.
The Zacks Consensus Estimate for B’s 2025 and 2026 earnings implies a year-over-year rise of 65.9% and 17.8%, respectively. The EPS estimates for 2025 and 2026 have been trending higher over the past 60 days.
B stock currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).
You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.