NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Shares of AngloGold Ashanti Ltd. are down by 1.14% to $9.55 in mid-afternoon trading on Thursday, as some mining and related stocks decline today due to the drop in the price of gold. Gold for June delivery is slipping by 0.61% to $1,200.80 per ounce on the COMEX this afternoon. The precious metal is falling today as some investors chose to lock in their gains ahead of the holiday weekend, the Wall Street Journal reports, adding that gold traders were sensitive about Wednesday's jobs data compiled by ADP and forecasting firm Moody's Analytics. The data showed that in March private employers added the smallest number of workers in over a year and factor activity was at a two year low, offering new signs that economic growth had slowed down significantly in the first quarter, Reuters reported. Investors were concerned about Wednesday's data since the market will be closed tomorrow in observance of Good Friday when the Labor Department is scheduled to release its nonfarm payrolls report. The COMEX and electronic trading will resume Sunday night. "Gold's going to have the weekend to percolate, and Sunday night could be a real barnburner," senior market strategist with LaSalle Futures Charles Nedoss told the Journal. Separately, TheStreet Ratings team rates ANGLOGOLD ASHANTI LTD as a Sell with a ratings score of D. TheStreet Ratings Team has this to say about their recommendation: "We rate ANGLOGOLD ASHANTI LTD (AU) a SELL. This is driven by several weaknesses, 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 generally high debt management risk, poor profit margins, weak operating cash flow and generally disappointing historical performance in the stock itself." Highlights from the analysis by TheStreet Ratings Team goes as follows: The debt-to-equity ratio of 1.31 is relatively high when compared with the industry average, suggesting a need for better debt level management. The gross profit margin for ANGLOGOLD ASHANTI LTD is currently lower than what is desirable, coming in at 34.27%. It has decreased from the same quarter the previous year. Along with this, the net profit margin of -4.40% is significantly below that of the industry average. Net operating cash flow has significantly decreased to $213.00 million or 50.58% when compared to the same quarter last year. In conjunction, when comparing current results to the industry average, ANGLOGOLD ASHANTI LTD has marginally lower results. AU's stock share price has done very poorly compared to where it was a year ago: Despite any rallies, the net result is that it is down by 39.81%, which is also worse that the performance of the S&P 500 Index. Investors have so far failed to pay much attention to the earnings improvements the company has managed to achieve over the last 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. 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 on the basis of return on equity, ANGLOGOLD ASHANTI LTD underperformed against that of the industry average and is significantly less than that of the S&P 500. You can view the full analysis from the report here: AU Ratings Report Must Read: Warren Buffett's Top 25 Stocks for 2015
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