NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Shares of Barrick Gold Corp. are down by 3.09% to $12.22 in early afternoon trading on Thursday, as some gold and mining related stocks retreat today along with the price of the precious metal. Gold prices are lower by 2.39% to $1,256.50 per ounce on the COMEX this afternoon. The price of the yellow metal fell after the Fed signaled that it was still on its way to raising U.S. interest rates this year, Reuters reports. Exclusive Report: Jim Cramer's Best Stocks for 2015 STOCKS TO BUY: TheStreet Quant Ratings has identified a handful of stocks that can potentially TRIPLE in the next 12 months. Learn more. In a policy statement issued on Wednesday the Fed said the U.S. economy was growing "at a solid pace," but maintained its position that it would be patient in determining when it will increase benchmark borrowing costs. The possibility of an increase in U.S. interest rates could result in investors moving away from gold, as it is a non-interest-bearing asset, Reuters noted. "The U.S. is still the driver of global growth, the Fed is the only bank considering any sort tightening, and that is going to weight on gold," a Mitsubishi Corp. strategist told Reuters. Separately, TheStreet Ratings team rates BARRICK GOLD CORP as a Sell with a ratings score of D. TheStreet Ratings Team has this to say about their recommendation: "We rate BARRICK GOLD CORP (ABX) a SELL. This is driven by some concerns, which we believe should have a greater impact than any strengths, and could make it more difficult for investors to achieve positive results compared to most of the stocks we cover. The company's weaknesses can be seen in multiple areas, such as its unimpressive growth in net income, weak operating cash flow, generally disappointing historical performance in the stock itself and feeble growth in its earnings per share." Highlights from the analysis by TheStreet Ratings Team goes as follows: The company, on the basis of change in net income from the same quarter one year ago, has significantly underperformed when compared to that of the S&P 500 and the Metals & Mining industry. The net income has significantly decreased by 27.3% when compared to the same quarter one year ago, falling from $172.00 million to $125.00 million. Net operating cash flow has decreased to $852.00 million or 30.78% when compared to the same quarter last year. In conjunction, when comparing current results to the industry average, BARRICK GOLD CORP has marginally lower results. Despite any intermediate fluctuations, we have only bad news to report on this stock's performance over the last year: it has tumbled by 31.97%, worse than the S&P 500's performance. Consistent with the plunge in the stock price, the company's earnings per share are down 38.88% compared to the year-earlier quarter. Naturally, the overall market trend is bound to be a significant factor. However, in one sense, the stock's sharp decline last year is a positive for future investors, making it cheaper (in proportion to its earnings over the past year) than most other stocks in its industry. But due to other concerns, we feel the stock is still not a good buy right now. BARRICK GOLD CORP's earnings per share declined by 38.9% in the most recent quarter compared to the same quarter a year ago. The company has reported a trend of declining earnings per share over the past two years. However, the consensus estimate suggests that this trend should reverse in the coming year. During the past fiscal year, BARRICK GOLD CORP reported poor results of -$9.63 versus -$0.35 in the prior year. This year, the market expects an improvement in earnings ($0.65 versus -$9.63). The company's current return on equity greatly increased when compared to its ROE from the same quarter one year prior. This is a signal of significant strength within the corporation. Compared to other companies in the Metals & Mining industry and the overall market, BARRICK GOLD CORP's return on equity significantly trails that of both the industry average and the S&P 500. You can view the full analysis from the report here: ABX Ratings Report STOCKS TO BUY: TheStreet Quant Ratings has identified a handful of stocks that can potentially TRIPLE in the next 12 months. Learn more.
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