What happened
Shares of Coeur Mining (CDE 2.49%) climbed as much as 10.4% early Friday, then settled to trade up 6.6% as of 3:30 p.m. ET following a notable analyst upgrade for the precious metals mining company.
So what
In a note to clients early Friday, RBC Capital analyst Michael Siperco raised his rating on Coeur Mining shares to outperform from sector perform. The analyst also reiterated his firm's per-share price target of $4 on the stock -- a roughly 88% premium from the mining stock's close yesterday.
The timing of this call is no coincidence; Coeur Mining recently participated in RBC Capital's Global Mining and Materials Conference in mid-June 2023. And RBC analysts recently completed a tour of the company's open pit, heap leach silver-gold Rochester mine operation in Pershing County, Nevada.
"The expansion at Rochester is almost complete, and execution on the ramp up through mid-2024 is the key catalyst for the stock in our view," Siperco wrote. "The site visit we attended highlighted the $700 million investment in throughput expansion, which should lead to 120% higher production once at full capacity in 2025."
Now what
This news shouldn't be entirely surprising considering Coeur Mining management told investors, along with their latest earnings report in early August, that the multiyear Rochester expansion was 97% complete as of July 31, 2023. Coeur Mining CEO Mitchell Krebs pledged at the time that its crushing facility was expected to be complete in the current quarter, followed by a ramp-up of the expanded operation through the end of 2023 and into early 2024.
With shares of Coeur Mining still down around 34% year to date as of this writing, however, it certainly helps to have a notable voice on Wall Street drawing attention to its progress. Shares of Coeur Mining are understandably rebounding in response.
