Top Gold Stocks for May 2022

Gold has long been regarded as a safe haven in times of market turmoil. Many investors have gained exposure to the precious metal by buying stocks of companies engaged in exploration and mining. Some of the major players in the gold industry include Canada-based Franco-Nevada Corp., Newmont Corp., and Australia-based Newcrest Mining Ltd.

Gold stocks, as represented by the VanEck Gold Miners ETF (GDX), have outperformed the broader market over the past year. GDX has provided a total return of 12.1% over the past 12 months, above the 4.0% total return of the Russell 1000 Index. These market performance numbers and all statistics in the tables below are as of April 18, 2022.

Here are the top five gold stocks with the best value, fastest growth, and most momentum.

Best Value Gold Stocks

Value investing is a factor-based investing strategy that involves picking stocks that you believe are trading for less than what they are intrinsically worth, usually by measuring the ratio of the stock's price to one or more fundamental business metrics. A widely accepted value metric is the price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio. Value investors believe that if a business is cheap compared to its intrinsic value, as measured by its P/E ratio in this case, then the stock price may rise faster than that of others as the price comes back in line with the worth of the company. These are the stocks with the lowest 12-month trailing P/E ratio.

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• Sibanye-Stillwater Ltd.: Sibanye-Stillwater is a South Africa-based producer of precious metals. The company develops and extracts mineral properties. Its diverse portfolio includes platinum metal operations in the U.S., South Africa, and Zimbabwe; gold operations and projects in South Africa; and copper, gold, and platinum metal exploration properties in North and South America. The company also has a 30% stake in a lithium project in Finland. Sibanye-Stillwater is the largest primary producer of platinum, the second largest primary producer of palladium, and ranks third among global gold producers on a gold-equivalent basis. In a press release on April 13, 2022, Sibanye-Stillwater responded to announced plans by the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (AMCU) and the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) to intensify the strike at the company's South African gold operations, which began on March 9, 2022. The company said that union members' support for the strike was waning and that its contract offer, including basic wage increases, is "fair and considers inflationary living costs." Since March 10, the company has implemented a lock out of its SA operations.
• Equinox Gold Corp.: Equinox Gold is a Canada-based, multi-asset mining company that operates entirely within the Americas. The company has eight operating gold mines throughout Canada, the U.S., Mexico, and Brazil. It is poised to achieve annual gold production of over 1 million ounces. Equinox Gold announced in late March that it poured its first gold at its new Santa Luz Mine in Brazil. The mine is expected to produce approximately 100,000 ounces of gold annually when operating at capacity.
• Dundee Precious Metals Inc.: Dundee Precious Metals is a Canada-based international mining company engaged in the acquisition, exploration, development, mining, and processing of precious metal properties. The company owns three principal subsidiaries: Chelopech, which owns and operates a gold, copper, and silver mine in Bulgaria; Krumovgrad, which is developing a gold property in Bulgaria; and Tsumeb, which owns and operates the company's concentrate processing facility in Namibia. Dundee Precious Metals also has shares that trade over-the-counter (OTC) in the U.S. under the ticker symbol DPMLF. The company announced in February that its board of directors has declared a first quarter dividend of $0.04 per common share, payable on April 18. The payout is a 33% increase in the company's quarterly dividend.
• Torex Gold Resources Inc.: Torex Gold Resources is a Canada-based intermediate gold producer. It engages in the exploration, development, and operation of its 100%-owned Morelos Gold Property, which is composed of 29,000 hectares in the Guerrero Gold Belt in Mexico. The company’s principal assets include the El Limón Guajes Mine Complex, composed of open pit and underground mines as well as a processing plant; and the Media Luna project, an advanced-stage development project. Torex also has shares that trade OTC in the U.S. under the ticker symbol TORXF.
  
• Calibre Mining Corp.: Calibre Mining is a Canada-based, mid-tier gold producer with operations in North and South America. The company operates several producing gold mines in Nicaragua: El Limόn, which covers an area of 12,000 hectares; La Libertad, which covers approximately 10,937 hectares; and Pavon, covering 31.5 square kilometers. It also operates the Pan Gold Mine, located in Nevada.

Fastest Growing Gold Stocks

These are the top gold stocks as ranked by a growth model that scores companies based on a 50/50 weighting of their most recent quarterly year-over-year (YOY) percentage revenue growth and most recent quarterly YOY earnings-per-share (EPS) growth. Both sales and earnings are critical factors in the success of a company. Therefore, ranking companies by only one growth metric makes a ranking susceptible to the accounting anomalies of that quarter (such as changes in tax law or restructuring costs) that may make one figure or the other unrepresentative of the business in general. Companies with quarterly EPS or revenue growth of more than 2,500% were excluded as outliers.

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• Wesdome Gold Mines Ltd.: Wesdome Gold Mines is a Canada-based, mid-tier gold mining company with operations in the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Quebec. It operates the Eagle River Underground Mine in Ontario and is also actively exploring its Kiena Complex, located in Quebec. Wesdome aims to produce more than 200,000 ounces from its two mining complexes. The company also has shares that trade OTC in the U.S. under the ticker WDOFF.
• Centerra Gold Inc.: Centerra Gold is a Canada-based gold mining and exploration company. It engages in the operation, exploration, development, and acquisition of gold properties in North America, Turkey, and other global markets. The company operates two mines: the Mount Milligan Mine in Canada and the Öksüt Mine in Turkey. Centerra produced 308,141 ounces of gold and 73.3 million pounds of copper in 2021. The company announced on April 4, 2022, that it has agreed to hand over control of its Kumtor Mine to Kyrgyzstan's government. The gold mine was expropriated by the Kyrgyzstan government in May 2021. As part of the agreement, Centerra must yield control of two entities to state-owned gold refiner Kyrgyzaltyn JSC: Kumtor Gold Co. and Kumtor Operating Co. In exchange, Kyrgyzaltyn must return its 26.4% stake in Centerra, which plans to cancel the returned shares. Centerra had invested more than $3 billion over nearly thirty years in its Kyrgyzstan mining operations.
• Equinox Gold Corp.: See above for company description.
• SSR Mining Inc.: SSR Mining is a Canada-based intermediate gold mining company that operates four producing assets located in the U.S., Turkey, Canada, and Argentina, as well as development and exploration assets in the U.S., Turkey, Mexico, Peru, and Canada. The company's four operating assets produced more than 711,000 ounces of gold in 2020. SSR Mining recently announced that it has completed its acquisition of Taiga Gold Corp. for approximately CA$30 million ($24 million). The company acquired five properties covering over 29,100 hectares in the Canadian province of Saskatchewan through the transaction.
• Wheaton Precious Metals Corp.: Wheaton Precious Metals is a precious metals streaming company. It enters into streaming agreements with third-party mining companies to purchase all or some of their precious metals or cobalt production. The company's current streaming agreements cover 24 operating mines and 8 development stage projects. Its portfolio includes a gold stream on the Salobo mine developed by Brazilian mining company Vale S.A.

Gold Stocks With the Most Momentum

Momentum investing is a factor-based investing strategy that involves investing in a stock whose price has risen faster than the market as a whole. Momentum investors believe that stocks that have outperformed the market will often continue to do so because the factors that caused them to outperform will not suddenly disappear. In addition, other investors, seeking to benefit from the stock's outperformance, will often purchase the stock, further bidding its price higher and pushing the stock higher still. These are the stocks that had the highest total return over the past 12 months.

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• Karora Resources Inc.: Karora Resources is a Canada-based, multi-asset mineral resource company primarily focused on the acquisition, exploration, evaluation, and development of precious metal properties. The company's primary gold-producing operations are its Beta Hunt Mine, the Higginsville Gold Operations, and Spargos Gold Mine. All three operations are located in Australia along the Norseman-Wiluna Greenstone Belt. Karora Resources also has shares that trade OTC in the U.S. under the ticker KRRGF.
• Gold Fields Ltd.: Gold Fields is a South Africa-based gold mining company. It has nine operating mines located in Australia, Peru, South Africa, and West Africa. The company also has a project in Chile. Gold Fields has mineral reserves of approximately 51.3 million ounces of gold. It produced approximately 2.3 million ounces of gold in 2021.
• New Found Gold Corp.: New Found Gold is a Canada-based mineral exploration company engaged in the acquisition, exploration, and evaluation of resource properties. It is primarily focused on gold properties located in the Canadian provinces of Newfoundland and Labrador, and Ontario. The company is focused on advancing its 100%-owned Queensway gold project in Newfoundland. New Found Gold recently announced the appointment of Collin Kettell to the role of chief executive officer (CEO). He replaces Craig Roberts, who has resigned as CEO and as the director of the company but will now work as a full-time consultant for the company in the role of lead advisor.
• OceanaGold Corp.: OceanaGold is an Australia-based multinational gold producer engaged in the development, exploration, and operation of gold properties. The company also produces copper and silver. Its portfolio of operating assets includes: the Didipio Mine in the Philippines; Macraes and Waihi operations in New Zealand; and the Haile Gold Mine in the U.S. OceanaGold also has shares that trade OTC in the U.S. under the ticker symbol OCANF. The company announced in February that it appointed Gerard Bond as the company's new president and CEO. Bond has extensive experience in global finance and the resources industry. He commenced his role as president and CEO of the company on April 4, 2022.
  
• SSR Mining Inc.: See above for company description.

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