Kopernik Global’s Bets On Gold Keep Paying Off

#3 Barrick Gold Corporation (USA) (NYSE:ABX)

– Shares Owned by Kopernik Global (as of June 30): 2.56 million

– Value of Holding (as of June 30): $54.64 Million

Moving on, Kopernik Global reduced its stake in Barrick Gold Corporation (USA) (NYSE:ABX) by 15% during the second quarter. Though shares of the Ontario-based gold mining company have gone through a notable correction in the past few weeks, they are still trading up by 146.15% this year. The company recently announced that it will be forming a joint venture in Venezuela in which the government of Venezuela will own a 55% stake. Despite the humongous gains that the stock has registered this year, mostly on the back of the rally in gold prices, most analysts feel that the stock will continue to do well even if gold prices stagnate, as Barrick Gold Corporation (USA) (NYSE:ABX) has paid off a large amount of its debt in the past few quarters and its profitability is on the rise. The number of hedge funds in our system long Barrick Gold inched up by four to 51 during the second quarter. Hugh Sloane‘s Sloane Robinson Investment Management upped its Barrick Gold holding by 19% to 1.48 million shares during the quarter.

#2 Kinross Gold Corporation (USA) (NYSE:KGC)

– Shares Owned by Kopernik Global (as of June 30): 11.84 million

– Value of Holding (as of June 30): $57.9 Million

Kinross Gold Corporation (USA) (NYSE:KGC) was another gold mining stock in which Kopernik Global reduced its stake during the second quarter, by 27%. Like the shares of Barrick Gold, Kinross Gold Corporation (USA) (NYSE:KGC)’s stock has also suffered a significant correction in the past few weeks, but despite that is currently trading up by 141% year-to-date. On August 25, the company revealed that it has suspended operations at its Maricunga gold mine in Chile and laid-off 300 employees following a judicial order that upheld the decision of Chile’s environmental regulator to shut down the water system linked to the mine. Though the Maricunga gold mine accounted for 8% of Kinross Gold’s gold production in 2015, the company said that suspending its operations there is not likely to impact its cost and production forecast for its fiscal year 2016. At the end of June, there were 31 hedge funds in our database that reported owning a stake in the company, with the aggregate value of their holdings in it being worth $722.86 million.

#1 Cameco Corporation (USA) (NYSE:CCJ)

– Shares Owned by Kopernik Global (as of June 30): 7.24 million

– Value of Holding (as of June 30): $79.47 Million

Cameco Corporation (USA) (NYSE:CCJ) was the only company among Kopernik Global’s five most valuable equity holdings in which the fund increased its stake during the second quarter, by 17%. It is also the only stock among those five that is currently trading in the red for 2016, down by 23.33%. The Saskatchewan, Canada-based uranium producer has lost over 60% of its market capitalization since the second quarter of 2014. However, because the company has kept its quarterly dividend unchanged during that time, its stock currently sports an attractive annual dividend yield of 3.27%. Despite Cameco Corporation (USA) (NYSE:CCJ) reporting weak numbers for its most recent quarter, analysts think that its stock will do well over the long-term as a number of reactors will become operational going forward and the demand for uranium is expected to rise by over 50% in the next two decades, mainly as a fuel for electricity generation. During the April-to-June period, ownership of the company among the funds that we track dropped by two to 19, while the aggregate value of their holdings in it also fell by $77 million to $266.44 million. Two hedge funds that sold off their entire stakes in the company during the quarter were Neil Chriss‘ Hutchin Hill Capital and Matthew Tewksbury’s Stevens Capital Management.

Disclosure: None