Still our top choice for gold exposure

Article Excerpt

NEWMONT MINING CORP. $55 (New York symbol NEM; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Resources sector; Shares outstanding: 496.2 million; Market cap: $27.3 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 2.6; Dividend yield: 2.5%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.newmont.com) is the world’s second-largest gold miner by production, behind Barrick Gold Corp. (New York symbol ABX). The company has major mines in the U.S., Australia and Peru. It gets about 90% of its revenue from gold. The remaining 10% comes from copper, zinc and other metals. Newmont sells its gold at the market rate instead of through hedging contracts that lock in prices. This policy has helped it take full advantage of rising gold: its average realized gold price jumped 124.1%, from $697 an ounce in 2007 to $1,562 in 2011. Lack of hedges unleashed earnings As a result, revenue rose 87.4%, from $5.5 billion in 2007 to $10.4 billion in 2011. Newmont unwound its remaining gold hedges in 2007, which is why it earned just $0.25 a share (or $113.0 million)…