Strong balance sheets add to investor appeal

Article Excerpt

Even gold, and gold stocks, have been hurt by the COVID-19 outbreak—albeit less than other stocks, generally. Investors in gold and gold-mining shares have sold at times in recent days, but most likely to raise cash in order to cover losses suffered in the stock market. That trend includes margin calls for those who had used stocks as collateral to buy other securities. With the value of those positions falling substantially, banks or brokers can demand repayment, triggering forced sales of unrelated assets such as gold stocks. Still, the long-term outlook for gold miners­—and their investors­­—remains positive. That’s especially true for those with positive cash flow, mangageable debt and growth prospects. We think Yamana Gold and IAMGold are among them. YAMANA GOLD $4.28 (Toronto symbol YRI; TSINetwork Rating: Speculative) (www. yamana.com; Shares outstanding: 950.6 million; Market cap: $4.8 billion; Dividend yield: 1.6%) lets you tap its six gold mines, in Canada, Brazil, Chile and Argentina. They include the Cerro Moro gold/silver mine in Argentina, which started up…