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To: Efthymios H. Zacharias who wrote (61433)	1/25/2001 6:58:39 AM
From: re3	Respond to of 436258

from canada's national post. Placer Dome fan looks beyond bullion blues Never mind writedown, stock is 'poised for rebound' Scott Adams Financial Post Gold has not been a friendly place to invest the past couple years, but analysts like Goldman Sachs & Co.'s Daniel McConvey still believe in it. The New York-based analyst reiterated his "market outperformer" rating on Placer Dome Inc. (PDG/ TSE, NYSE) yesterday with a target of US$11, after the company announced a US$209-million asset writedown. Placer Dome's stock fell 75¢ to $12.85 in Toronto, and 9/16 to US$8 1/2 in New York. For long-term shareholders, Placer Dome stock hasn't been a comfortable place to be, as it is now trading at levels last seen in 1991. Through the mid-1990s, it traded in the $30 range, peaking above $40 in 1996, but the stock has followed the languishing gold price ever since. The writedown was triggered when Placer Dome factored in a long-term gold price of US$300 an ounce, down from US$325. That assumption could still look bullish, considering gold traded at about US$264 in New York yesterday and has traded between US$316.20 and US$263.20 the past year, hurt by government reserve sales. Using the lower gold price assumption, Placer reported 47 million ounces of gold reserves at the end of 2000, down 29% from last year. The company said assuming a US$275 gold price would cut assets 5% more. Placer Dome is the first to adopt a lower reserves gold price, but the market expects other companies to do so as well. The bulk of Placer's lowered reserves came from its Las Cristinas property, down by 7.5 million ounces to zero, and Getchell, down 6.5 million ounces to zero. Placer had already written off Las Cristinas this year, so the US$209-million writedown is related to the Getchell, Porgera and Osborne properties. Placer Dome acquired Getchell Gold Corp. for stock valued at US$1.09-billion when the deal was first announced in 1998. The news at Getchell was particularly disappointing, said Mr. McConvey. "Although this is not a surprise, it is discouraging that, despite all the drilling by the previous owners, nothing now qualifies as reserves." Analysts are decidedly mixed about Placer Dome. Over the past three months, for every one that has put a "buy" on it, there is roughly one with a "hold." Mr. McConvey has had his "market outperform" rating on the stock since last May. "In the medium to long term, Placer remains one of our preferred gold stocks in a low gold price environment with a solid hedge position, low cost assets and relatively solid balance sheet," Mr. McConvey wrote in his note yesterday. Griffiths McBurney analyst Larry Strauss appears to be the only one to tag the stock with a "focus buy," or strong buy, recently. In a research note on Tuesday, he said that in order for the stock to reach his $25 target, then "gold prices would have to rally to the US$310-US$320 an ounce area." Chad Williams, analyst at TD Securities, said Placer's best hope is that the price of gold rises this year when the U.S. dollar weakens, as he believes it will. (When the U.S. dollar weakens, traders often move into gold.) He reiterated his "hold" rating yesterday, not encouraged by the Getchell news or the lower reserves. The best news for Placer yesterday was at its Zaldivar property, he said, as it increased its assets by 69%. Zaldivar is a copper site. "It's now by far their best asset," Mr. Williams said.