At first glance, the Barrick Gold Corp stock market’s best day seems to have been related to production for almost five months: The world’s second-largest producer produced more bullion than analysts expected.
A closer look at the fourth-quarter results, however, reveals other strong gains. Indicator whereby the Toronto-based producer managed to cut costs in an inflationary environment.
In the July-September period, the same metric was significantly higher year-over-year, but slightly below the second quarter and below the median estimate.
While Wednesday’s statement didn’t provide reasons for the cost cuts, it appears that CEO Mark Bristow continues to cope better than his peers with tight labor markets and more expensive freight, energy and other inputs, despite ongoing supply chain issues.
Barrick can still unlock savings. after the Randgold acquisition, and Bristow likes to promote efforts to alleviate price and cost pressures, such as the migration to a younger workforce and his paranoid approach to managing complex shipping companies.