Agnico Eagle Mines Ltd (TSE: AEM) (NYSE: AEM) (FRA: AE9) had a stellar first quarter overall, beating analyst expectations amid soaring gold prices. The gold producer released its Q1 results on Apr. 24.
Adjusted earnings per share increased over two-fold year-over-year to C$2.12, beating a prediction from Zacks Equity Research by C$0.20. Agnico Eagle’s revenue also rose by 34.9 per cent year-over-year to C$3.4 billion, propelled by the high price of gold ounces and operational streamlining.
Moreover, net income shot up by 135 per cent from Q1, 2024 to C$1.12 billion last quarter, also largely attributable to record high gold prices.
Agnico Eagle ended the quarter with a cash and cash equivalents balance of C$1.58 billion — a 22.9 per cent rise from Q4, 2024. The company produced a total of 873,794 ounces during the three-month period.
Production was primarily driven by the company’s Canadian mining operations in Quebec, Ontario and Nunavut.
“We expect to be generating an awful lot of cash at these gold prices,” chief executive Ammar Al-Joundi said in an interview Friday.
However, the balance sheet shows that Agnico Eagle’s income and mining taxes paid increased by a whopping C$561.85 million, offsetting the quarter’s financial successes. The total for last year’s first quarter was only C$181.1 million.
Furthermore, Agnico Eagle’s capital expenditures during the quarter were C$65 million higher than 2024 at C$580.1 million, driven by increased development spending.
Read more: Calibre Mining shareholders can get 4% higher stake once Equinox Gold merger is finalized
Read more: Calibre Mining helps bring clean drinking water to thousands of Nicaraguans
Agnico Eagle continues paying quarterly dividend of C$0.55
The gold producer just declared that its dividend would remain the same as it has been since late 2020. It used to be only C$0.48 five years ago.
Since 2015, Agnico Eagle has increased its dividend payouts by about 17 per cent annually.
During Q1, Agnico Eagle provided C$312.9 million to shareholders through its dividends and share buybacks. About 120 million shares have been bought back by the company and Agnico Eagle plans to continue buying up more.
The aim for the mining giant this year is to produce about 3.4 million gold ounces.
Agnico Eagle is Canada’s number one gold producer. The company emerging from the imminent consolidation of Calibre Mining Corp (TSE: CXB) (OTCMKTS: CXBMF) (FRA: WCLA) and Equinox Gold Corp (TSE: EQX) (NYSEAMERICAN: EQX) (FRA: 1LRC) will soon be second from the top.
Agnico Eagle has approximately C$1.5 billion in debt and an equivalent cash balance, as mentioned previously. The multinational gold producer has about 500 million outstanding shares.
Calibre Mining is a sponsor of Mugglehead news coverage
Follow Rowan Dunne on LinkedIn
rowan@mugglehead.com
