Newmont: A Higher Cost H2 On Deck

Newmont Corporation is the world's largest gold producer, but operators of this scale face consistent challenges replacing production & reserves each year, creating greater hurdles on a per share growth basis. Fortunately, higher gold prices have helped to improve per share metrics, though, with strong Q2 '26 free cash flow generation despite higher costs, a surprise royalty hike & an operational setback. That said, NEM's strong H1 free cash flow benefited from a back-end weighted CapEx profile, and it enters Q3 with higher oil prices, lower gold prices & catch-up on CapEx. At $95.00/share, NEM's valuation is more reasonable, but with a softer Q3 outlook and a less attractive growth profile than peers, I see more attractive bets elsewhere today.