RTTNews) – Canadian gold mining company Yamana Gold, Inc. (AUY: News ,YRI.TO: News ,YAU.L: News ) reported Wednesday that profit for the fourth quarter soared from last year, reflecting higher gold prices, lower unrealized foreign exchange losses as well as stock-based and other compensations. Excluding items, adjusted earnings per share surged and came in above analysts’ expectations by a penny. The company reaffirmed its production outlook for the full-year 2011.
The Toronto, Canada-based company reported net earnings of $160.4 million or $0.22 per share for the fourth quarter, sharply higher than $36.2 million or $0.05 per share in the prior-year quarter.
Excluding items, adjusted earnings for the latest quarter surged to $173.3 million or $0.23 per share from $100.9 million or $0.14 per share in the year-ago quarter. On average, 12 analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected the company to report earnings of $0.20 per share for the fourth quarter. Analysts’ estimates typically exclude special items.
Revenues for the quarter increased 34 percent to $535.1 million from $399.8 million in the same quarter last year, mainly due to high gold prices. Four Wall Street analysts had a consensus revenue estimate of $535.90 million for the quarter.
Mine operating earnings for the quarter were $271.3 million, up 47 percent from of $184.3 million in the year-ago quarter.
“This was an exceptional year for Yamana. In addition to achieving record revenues, record earnings and record cash flow, we made construction decisions on three new development projects which will add to production starting in 2012. We will increase production by over 60% in the next four years, continuing to deliver,” Chairman and CEO Peter Marrone said in a statement.
AUY closed Wednesday’s regular trading on the NYSE at $12.44, up $0.20 or 1.63 percent on a volume of 8.23 million shares. On the Toronto Stock Exchange, YRI.TO closed at C$12.34, up C$0.21 or 1.73 percent on a volume of 2.95 million shares.
