BTO, CEE
B2Gold aka BTO had already pe-released production results from their flagship Fekola gold mine in Mali, so there weren't many surprises when they released their Q4 report. Indeed, production and costs were in line with expectations for both the quarter and the entire year. Unfortunately, the big surprise was that capex was well above estimates, though this is mitigated by most of the expenditures being related to expansion at Fekola, so it was expended to increase future production.
BTO also released guidance for 2023, with production staying relatively flat at 1000k-1080k oz Au. As with 2022, the big questions relate to costs.
Message 34160371
FWIW, in response, TD released a new analyst report calling the impact Mixed, while keeping BTO at Action List Buy with a target of $8.50. Meanwhile, BMO's new analyst report referenced concerns about cost and capex while keeping BTO at Outperform and reducing their target from $7.50 to $7.
Centamin aka CEE also released its quarterly report. Although Q4 Au production of 109568 oz slightly missed consensus estimates (116.7koz), full-year production of 440974 oz achieved guidance of 430-460koz. Cash costs were up to $997/oz in Q4, but they still managed to increase their cash stash slightly to $156M with no debt. Turning to 2023 guidance of 450-480k oz Au at a cash cost of $840-960/oz, CEE in a similar position as BTO, guiding for slightly higher production at higher costs, the precise issue being how much higher.
Message 34160398
FWIW, in response BMO issued a new analysts report on CEE, keeping them at Market Perform but slightly reducing their target to $2. |
