SSR Mining (SSRM +12.49%) stock surged ahead 10% through 11:45 a.m. ET Thursday after TD Cowen analyst Steven Green upgraded the stock to buy with a price target of $43 Canadian dollars.
That's $31.18 U.S. -- 22% more than the stock costs today.
Image source: Getty Images.
TD Cowen catches the gold bug
Green loves gold, and says SSR Mining's share price looks "compelling" in light of rising gold prices, as TheFly.com reports today. The gold mining stock costs less than rival gold companies and is generating improved free cash flow as well.
The analyst also observes that SSR has a potential catalyst on the horizon, if and when the company's Çöpler mine in Turkey is reopened. (Work at the Çöpler mine was suspended after an industrial accident there in 2024.)
NASDAQ: SSRM
Key Data Points
Is SSR Mining stock a buy?
A good friend once told me he likes to buy gold mining stocks when they are priced under 10 times annual operating cash flow. With $395 million in operating cash flow today, SSR Mining stock doesn't fit that bill after its share price nearly tripled over the past year -- but at $4.7 billion in market cap, it's close. What's more, analysts polled by S&P Global Market Intelligence forecast SSR's operating cash flow could surge as high as $946 million in 2026 -- and pass $1.1 billion in 2027 if Çöpler reopens in time.
Assuming SSR hits those marks, there's still room for the stock to more than double over the next 12 months.
Even valued on a more traditional P/E or P/FCF metric, SSR stock sells for about 25 times both earnings and free cash flow. With a forecast growth rate of more than 100% over the next five years, SSR looks like a buy to me.
