What happened
Shares of gold miner IAMGOLD Corporation (IAG -2.56%) are up 10% as of 11:00 a.m. EDT today.
So what
IAMGOLD's public relations department sure knows how to get attention. The company's most recent earnings report is titled "IAMGOLD's Gross Profit Increases 438% in First Quarter." That sounds like incredible growth. The further you dig into the results, though, you'll see that that huge surge in gross profit was from $6.5 million this time last year to $35 million today. Also, keep in mind those are gross profits. If we look at the bottom-line results, IAMGOLD posted a $0.04-per-share loss.
Image source: Getty Images.
The good news to come from this report was that the company increased total gold production, reduced all-in sustaining costs, and upped cash from operations. Those accomplishments and the recent credit rating upgrade suggest that IAMGOLD is getting back on the right track after a five-year earnings decline.
On top of the credit rating upgrade, it seems equity analysts are more bullish on the stock as well. Credit Suisse announced this morning that it was upgrading IAMGOLD's stock from underperform to neutral.
Now what
IAMGOLD's operational metrics are trending in the right direction, but the company has a long way to go before investors should seriously consider this stock. IAMGOLD's all-in sustaining costs stand at $992 per ounce, which makes it one of the higher-cost miners. With so many other miners sporting much lower cost operations than IAMGOLD, this stock doesn't look like the best option for betting on gold today.
