Newmont (NEM) vs Barrick (B): Which is a Better Stock to Buy?

Newmont Corporation (NYSE:NEM) closed at $115.56 on October 2, and Barrick Mining Corporation (NYSE:B) at $40.23.

Both dig gold out of the ground and sell it at a price neither of them influences. Gold has been strong, and both have risen. When two companies sell an identical product, the only things that separate them are what it costs to produce and what the market charges for the shares.

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On Production Costs, They Are Nearly Identical:

The operating figures are closer than almost any pair in the market. Newmont converts 51.57% of revenue into operating profit. Barrick manages 51.34%, which is a difference small enough to be noise.

Net margins repeat it, at 33.36% against 31.60%. So neither company mines gold meaningfully more cheaply than the other, and the usual cost advantage argument does not apply here.

Scale is the one place Newmont clearly leads, generating $8.82 billion of free cash flow against $5.09 billion at Barrick. In a business where the selling price is set elsewhere, that cash is the only real defense. It is what funds a mine through the years when gold does not cooperate.

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Barrick Is Growing Faster and Costs Far Less:

Here the comparison stops being close. Barrick grew revenue 43.80% in the most recent quarter against 15.10% at Newmont. Earnings grew 50.10% against 6.80%. For two companies selling the same metal at the same price, that gap is about volume and mine performance rather than about gold.

Barrick is also cheaper on every measure. It trades at 11.34 times trailing earnings against 16.05 times, at 2.64 times book against 3.80 times, and at 4.69 times enterprise value to EBITDA against 8.15 times.

That last figure is the most telling, because it is the measure that handles the heavy depreciation mining carries. Income follows the same direction. Barrick yields 1.74% against 0.90%, paying out 23.77% of earnings against 12.86%.

Newmont tops our list of the ten best gold stocks to buy for the long term, and Barrick does not appear on it at all. You can find the full ranking here.

The Valuation Case:

Sustainability is identical for both and sits outside either company. Gold at current levels is what produces these margins, and neither management team has any influence over it.

What they do control is production, and Barrick is currently growing its output far faster.

On price, there is no contest. Barrick is cheaper on earnings, on book value, and on enterprise value, while growing faster and paying nearly double the yield.

Newmont’s answer is size and cash generation, which matter if the gold price turns and the weaker producers struggle. Barrick ranks among this year’s best-performing foreign stocks, and you can see the list here.

Conclusion:

Barrick is the better of the two. It grows revenue nearly three times faster, earns an almost identical margin, yields nearly double, and trades at roughly two-thirds of Newmont’s multiple on every measure that matters. However, Newmont is the larger and better capitalized producer, generates considerably more free cash flow and would absorb a falling gold price more comfortably. Buyers of Newmont are paying a premium for safety in an industry where the main risk is a price nobody controls.

Market Sentiment:

Newmont Corporation was held by 75 hedge funds with a combined stake value of about $3.15 billion at the end of Q2 2026 in the Insider Monkey database. This is down from 82 hedge fund holders with a cumulative investment value of around $3.92 billion in the previous quarter.

Barrick Mining Corporation was held by 59 hedge funds with a combined stake value of about $3.26 billion at the end of the same quarter. This is down from 75 hedge fund holders with a cumulative investment value of around $4.98 billion three months earlier.

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This article is originally published at Insider Monkey.