Coeur d’Alene Mines Corporation (CDE) Earnings: An Early Look

Earnings season is now starting to wind down, with most companies already having reported their quarterly results. But there are still some companies left to report, and Coeur d’Alene Mines Corporation (NYSE:CDE) is about to release its quarterly earnings report. The key to making smart investment decisions with stocks releasing their quarter reports is to anticipate how they’ll do before they announce results, leaving you fully prepared to respond quickly to whatever inevitable surprises arise. That way, you’ll be less likely to make an uninformed knee-jerk reaction to news that turns out to be exactly the wrong move.

After a long bull market, silver prices have taken a pause over the past 12 months, with the iShares Silver Trust (ETF)(NYSEMKT:SLV) having fallen more than 10% since this time last year. Moreover, silver miners like Coeur d’Alene have faced some additional headwinds that have challenged their profit-making potential. Let’s take an early look at what’s been happening with Coeur d’Alene over the past quarter and what we’re likely to see in its quarterly report on Thursday.

Stats on Coeur d’Alene

Source: Yahoo! Finance.

Will Coeur d’Alene connect with profits?
Analysts have been extremely pessimistic about Coeur d’Alene’s profit potential, cutting their earnings estimates on the miner by more than half over the past three months, and reducing their full-year 2013 estimates by $0.65 per share. The stock has also run into resistance, falling about 8% since mid-November.

Coeur d’Alene is trying to rebound from a tough report last quarter. Because of a 2009 royalty agreement with Franco-Nevada Corporation (NYSE:FNV) covering half of its Palmarejo mine’s gold production, Coeur has suffered from rising gold prices, having to take substantial impairments to earnings.

To do so, Coeur d’Alene has turned to acquisitions. In December, the company paid $60 million in cash and stock to buy out its joint-venture partner, Mirasol Resources, to take full possession of the Joaquin silver and gold project in Argentina.

More recently, Coeur d’Alene has made a bid to buy out Orko Silver, topping First Majestic Silver Corp (NYSE:AG)‘s bid with a $383.3 million offer. The move would give the winner the rights to Orko’s La Preciosa silver mine in Mexico. Coeur d’Alene faces an uphill battle, though, because First Majestic already has assets in the same area as La Preciosa and also has the benefit of getting a breakup fee if Coeur d’Alene ends up winning a bidding war.

In Coeur d’Alene’s report, look for more information about the Orko bid and what direction the company plans to take after a potential acquisition. Without better strategic direction, Coeur d’Alene will have a hard time reversing its lackluster performance.

The article Coeur d’Alene Earnings: An Early Look originally appeared on Fool.com and is written by Dan Caplinger.

Fool contributor Dan Caplinger has no position in any stocks mentioned. You can follow him on Twitter @DanCaplinger. The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned.

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