CA - B2Gold Stock: A Sector Leader On The Sale Rack

2024-03-15 09:30:41 ET

Summary

• B2Gold Corp. reported Q4 and FY2023 results, beating annual guidance with 1.061 million ounces of gold produced, another record for the company.
• Meanwhile, AISC margins improved with the benefit of a higher gold price, but the real margin growth will arrive next year when it brings its world-class Goose Project online.
• With B2Gold consistently over-delivering being one of the few producers to create enormous value for shareholders over the past two decades, I see this pullback as a gift.

Q4 & FY2023 Results

B2Gold Corp. (BTG) released its Q4 and FY2023 results last month, reporting quarterly production of ~288,700 ounces of gold at cash costs of $633/oz and all-in sustaining costs [AISC] of $1,257/oz. These results contributed to a beat on the annual guidance midpoint with ~1.061 million ounces produced vs. guidance of 1.04 million ounces of gold, with FY2023 cash costs below the range of $670/oz to $730/oz (actual: $654/oz), and all-in sustaining costs at the low end of the range at $1,201/oz for the year vs. a guidance mid-point of $1,225/oz. And while the results might have looked weaker in Q4 year-over-year (~288,700 ounces produced at $1,257/oz vs. ~367,900 ounces produced at $892/oz in Q4 2022), it's important to note that the company was lapping its most difficult comps on record with a massive Q4 in the year-ago period (Q4 2022) at Fekola with a record 244,000 ounces of gold produced on the back of elevated grades from the Phase 6 Pit.

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