Hedge Funds’ Top Precious Metal Plays: Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc. (FCX), Barrick Gold Corporation (ABX), Goldcorp Inc. (GG)

Barrick Gold Corporation (NYSE:ABX) is a gold and mining development company that also has some oil and gas activities.  The company recently released disappointing earnings for Q4 of 2012, with a net loss of $3.06 billion at $3.06 per share compared with a profit of $959 million, or 96 cents a share, a year earlier.  This included a $3.8 billion write down related to a copper mine the company acquired in Zambia a few years ago. However, Barrick did predict gold production of approximately 7.0 to 7.4 million ounces for full-year 2013.

Goldcorp Inc. (NYSE:GG) comes in fourth, and is another gold miner. It has major operations at Cerro Negro in Argentina, Éléonore in Quebec, and Cochenour in Red Lake, Canada. The company had  production of 700,400 ounces for Q4 and 2,396,200 ounces for all of 2012, compared with 687,900 ounces in Q4 of 2011 and 2,514,700 ounces for all of 2011. Revenues for Q4 2012 totaled $1.4 billion on gold sales of 645,100 ounces. Goldcorp has a current dividend yield of 1.8%, with increased dividends of $438 million paid in 2012, versus dividends of $330 million in 2011. The company’s stock is trading below its 50-day and 200-day SMA, and is off over 35% from its 52-week high of $47 in September of 2012.

Kinross Gold Corporation (NYSE:KGC), lastly, is engaged in the production, acquisition, exploration and development of gold properties principally in Canada, the United States, Russia, Brazil, Ecuador, Chile, Ghana and Mauritania. The company has a current dividend yield of 2.11%, and recently reported a net loss from continuing operations for 2012 of $2.5 billion ($2.24 per share) compared with a net loss of $2 billion ($1.84 per share) in 2011. On the flip side, revenue for 2012 increased to $4.3 billion, compared with $3.8 billion for 2011.

A major component of the reported loss is a disappointing $3.09 billion write down for its Tasiast mine project. The share price is trading lower than the 50-day and 200-day SMA, and is down over 34% from its 52-week high in October of 2012. With results like this, though, it’s important to pay attention to the smart money’s consensus sentiment.

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