Top 5 Gold Stock Picks Of Precious Metals Maven Eric Sprott

#3 Agnico Eagle Mines Ltd (USA) (NYSE:AEM)

Shares Owned by Sprott Asset Management (as of September 30): 465,417 shares

Value of Holding (as of September 30): $11.784 million

Moving on, Sprott Asset Management increased its stake in Agnico Eagle Mines Ltd (USA) (NYSE:AEM) by 2% or 13,362 shares during the third quarter. Though shares of Agnico Eagle Mines Ltd (USA) (NYSE:AEM) slumped heavily during the July-September period in the wake of the extreme market volatility during that timeframe, they have recovered since then and currently trade up by 11.57% on a year-to-date basis. Considering the fact that the company has consistently paid a dividend since 1983, has low levels of debt on its balance sheet, and continues to maintain healthy margins in comparison to its peers, several analysts and industry experts consider Agnico Eagle Mines to be one of the best gold stocks to own. This confidence was reinforced by the company when it declared better-than-expected third quarter results on October 28. While the consensus among analysts was for the company to report EPS of $0.06 on revenue of $481.83 million, it reported EPS of $0.18 on revenue of $508.80 million. William Harnisch‘s Peconic Partners LLC initiated a stake in Agnico Eagle Mines during the second quarter, purchasing 99,200 shares of the company.

#2 Franco-Nevada Corporation (NYSE:FNV)

Shares Owned by Sprott Asset Management (as of September 30): 269,415 shares

Value of Holding (as of September 30): $11.86 million

Shares of gold-focused royalty and stream company Franco-Nevada Corporation (NYSE:FNV) have been trading in the range of $40-to-$60 throughout 2015 and currently trade nearly flat year-to-date. During the third quarter, when the stock of Franco-Nevada Corporation (NYSE:FNV) lost 7.6%, Sprott Asset Management sold 10% or 32,849 shares of its holding in the company. On October 5, Franco-Nevada Corporation along with First Quantum Minerals Ltd. announced the finalization of the terms of a replacement precious metals stream agreement for First Quantum Minerals’ Cobre Panama project. Under the terms of the agreement Franco-Nevada (Barbados), a subsidiary of  Franco-Nevada Corporation, will be providing a $1 billion deposit against future deliveries of gold and silver from the Cobre Panama project. On October 6, analysts at RBC Capital reitearted their ‘Outperform’ rating on the stock, while upping their price target on it to $85 from $77. Cliff Asness‘ AQR Capital Management held 637,336 shares of the company as of June 30.

#1 Randgold Resources Ltd. (ADR)(NASDAQ:GOLD)

Shares Owned by Sprott Asset Management (as of September 30): 258,139 shares

Value of Holding (as of September 30): $15.253 million

Finally, after increasing its stake by 12% during the second quarter, Sprott Asset Management again added 12% or 29,239 shares of its favorite gold stock, Randgold Resources Ltd. (ADR)(NASDAQ:GOLD) to its portfolio during the third quarter. Though the stock of the company declined considerably during the third quarter, the recovery it had during October has ensured that it currently trades nearly flat for the year, with a meager year-to-date loss of 1.9%. On October 24, Randgold Resources’ CEO, Mark Bristow, announced that the company’s Tongon gold mine has paid off its shareholders’ loans of $448 million, used to partially fund its capital investment of $580 million, and hence has moved into a dividend-paying position. Randgold Resources Ltd. (ADR)(NASDAQ:GOLD) is scheduled to declare its third quarter earnings tomorrow and analysts expect it to report EPS of $0.46, $0.09 better than the $0.37 in EPS it reported for the same period last year. Billionaire Ray Dalio‘s Bridgewater Associates held 98,000 shares of the company as of June 30.

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