New Gold’s shares saw a decline on Thursday following the release of its second-quarter results. Analysts have noted that the results were largely as expected.
In morning trading on the Toronto Stock Exchange, the shares were down 11% at C$1.46, reducing the year-to-date gain to 9.8%. In New York, the stock also dropped 11% to $1.11.
For the three-month period ending Wednesday, the company reported a loss of $2.6 million, compared to a loss of $37.9 million in the same period last year. This improvement was attributed to increased revenue, lower finance costs, and a reduced loss on investment revaluation, according to New Gold.
On an adjusted basis, the company achieved earnings of 2 cents per share, which aligns with the average estimate of eight analysts surveyed by FactSet.
Second-quarter revenue rose by 59% to $184.4 million, driven by higher gold prices and increased sales volumes of gold and copper. However, this growth was offset by lower copper prices. Analysts had anticipated revenue of $189.5 million.
During the period, production reached 102,374 gold equivalent ounces, up from 70,514 ounces in the same quarter last year. Gold output also experienced a significant increase of 46% to 76,527 troy ounces.
Michael Siperco, an analyst at RBC Capital Markets, described New Gold’s results as positive, with adjusted earnings meeting his expectations and production at the Rainy River and New Afton operations outperforming forecasts. Siperco also highlighted that New Gold has affirmed its production guidance of between 365,000 and 425,000 gold equivalent ounces for 2023.
Farooq Hamed at Raymond James noted that while New Gold is on track with its production guidance, cash costs seem to be approximately 10% higher than the midpoint of the guidance.