Kinross (KGC) (CPE) (CXO) (ETP) (HFC) (MRO) Upgraded by Analysts

Kinross Gold Corp (KGC), Callon Petroleum Company (CPE), Concho Resources Inc. (CXO), Energy Transfer (ETP), HollyFrontier Corp (HFC) and Marathon Oil Co. (MRO) were upgraded by analysts.

SunTrust upgraded Callon Petroleum Company (CPE) from a "Neutral" rating to a "Buy" rating.
Goldman Sachs upgraded Concho Resources Inc. (CXO) from a "Neutral" rating to a "Buy" rating. They have a price target of $111.00 on the company.

Morgan Stanley upgraded Energy Transfer (ETP) from an "Underweight" rating to an "Equal Weight" rating. They have a price target of $50.00 on the company.

Barclays Capital upgraded HollyFrontier Corp (HFC) from an "Equal Weight" rating to an "Overweight" rating. They have a price target of $65.00 on the company.

Macquarie upgraded Kinross Gold Corp (KGC) from a "Neutral" rating to an "Outperform" rating.

JPMorgan Chase upgraded Marathon Oil Co. (MRO) from a "Neutral" rating to an "Overweight" rating. They have a price target of $35.00 on the company.

Newmont (NEM) (IAG) (KGC) (EGO) (ABX) (AEM) (AUY) Had Ratings on Them Initiated

Newmont Mining Co. (NEM), IAMGOLD Corp. (IAG), Kinross Gold Corp. (KGC), Eldorado Gold Co. (EGO), Barrick Gold Corp. (ABX), Agnico-Eagle Mines Limited (AEM), Yamana Gold (AUY) had ratings on them initiated by analysts.

Barclays Capital initiated coverage on Newmont Mining Co. (NEM). They placed an "Overweight" rating and price target of $73.00 on the company.

Barclays Capital initiated coverage on IAMGOLD Corp. (IAG). They placed an "Equal Weight" rating and price target of $19.00 on the company.

Barclays Capital initiated coverage on Kinross Gold Corp. (KGC). They placed an "Equal Weight" rating and price target of $13.00 on the company.

Barclays Capital initiated coverage on Eldorado Gold Co. (EGO). They placed an "Equal Weight" rating and price target of $18.00 on the company.

Barclays Capital initiated coverage on Barrick Gold Corp. (ABX). They placed an "Equal WeightThey placed an "Equal Weight" rating and price target of $52.00 on the company.

Barclays Capital initiated coverage on Agnico-Eagle Mines Limited (AEM). They placed an "Equal Weight" rating and price target of $62.00 on the company.

Barclays Capital initiated coverage on Yamana Gold (AUY). They placed an "Overweight" rating and price target of $25.00 on the company.

Kinross Gold (KGC) CFO Paul Barry Steps Down

Paul Barry, the CFO of Kinross Gold Corporation (NYSE: KGC), is the latest top executive to leave the company, a couple of months after CEO Tye Burt was replaced by J. Paul Rollinson in August.

The stated reason for leaving was the usual “to pursue other interests,” although it is a surety that it follows on the heels of the reason Burt left, which was to boost margins, lower costs, and better capital efficiency.

Although it's not a certainty it's tied in to this move, today Morgan Stanley (MS) downgraded the miner from an “Equal Weight” rating to an “Underweight” rating.

Even so, most analysts have been more positive on the company, with Deutsche Bank (DB), RBC Capital and TD Securities all looking favorably on the gold miner. Deutsche has a "Buy" rating on Kinross; RBC Capital has an "Outperform" rating on the company; and TD Securities also has a "Buy" rating on them.

As for a new CFO, there has been no candidate named to replace Barry, who evidently announced his exit suddenly, or else Kinross would have had a replacement in place. Kinross says Barry will stay on until a new CFO is found.

Kinross (KGC) (GOLD) (DO) (TC) (TGD) Downgraded by Analysts

Kinross Gold Corp. (KGC), Randgold Resources Ltd. (GOLD), Diamond Offshore Drilling, Inc. (DO), Thompson Creek Metals (TC) and Timmins Gold Corp. (Canada) (TGD) were downgraded by analysts.

FBR Capital downgraded Diamond Offshore Drilling, Inc. (DO) from an "Outperform" rating to a "Market Perform" rating.

Canaccord Genuity downgraded Randgold Resources Ltd. (GOLD) from a "Buy" rating to a "Hold" rating.

Morgan Stanley (MS) downgraded Kinross Gold Corp (KGC) from an "Equal Weight" rating to an "Underweight" rating.

Paradigm Capital downgraded Thompson Creek Metals (TC) from a "Buy" rating to a "Hold" rating. They have a price target of $3.00 on the company.

Canaccord Genuity downgraded Timmins Gold Corp. (Canada) (TGD) from a "Hold" rating to a "Sell" rating. They have a price target of $2.35 on the company.

AK Steel (AKS) (BRY) (CMRE) (COG) (CRZO) (DTE) (DVN) (KGC) (NXY) (NXY) (SLW) (SRE) (SYT) Downgraded by Analysts

Shares of commodity companies AK Steel Holding Co. (AKS), Berry Petroleum Comp (BRY), Comstock Resources (CMRE), Cabot Oil & Gas (COG), Carrizo Oil & Gas (CRZO), DTE Energy (DTE), Devon Energy Co. (DVN), Kinross Gold (KGC), Silver Wheaton Corp. (SLW), Sempra Energy (SRE) and Syngenta AG (SYT) were downgraded by analysts.

UBS AG (NYSE: UBS) downgraded AK Steel Holding Co. (AKS) from a "Buy" rating to a "Neutral" rating.

Tudor Pickering downgraded Berry Petroleum Comp (BRY) from an "Accumulate" rating to a "Hold" rating.

Wells Fargo & Co. (NYSE: WFC) downgraded Comstock Resources (CMRE) from an "Outperform" rating to a "Market Perform" rating.

Tudor Pickering downgraded Cabot Oil & Gas (COG) from an "Accumulate" rating to a "Hold" rating.

Tudor Pickering downgraded Carrizo Oil & Gas (CRZO) from a "Buy" rating to an "Accumulate" rating.

Argus downgraded DTE Energy (DTE) from a "Buy" rating to a "Hold" rating.

Tudor Pickering downgraded Devon Energy Co. (DVN) from a "Buy" rating to an "Accumulate" rating.

Macquarie downgraded Kinross Gold (KGC) from an "Outperform" rating to a "Neutral" rating.

Macquarie downgraded Silver Wheaton Corp. (SLW) from an "Outperform" rating to a "Neutral" rating.

Argus downgraded Sempra Energy (SRE) from a "Buy" rating to a "Hold" rating.

Sanford C. Bernstein downgraded Syngenta AG (SYT) from a "Market Perform" rating to an "Underperform" rating.

Barrick (ABX) (GG) (IAG) (EGO) (KGC) (NEM) Rise on Higher Gold Future Prices

IAMGOLD Corporation (NYSE:IAG), Eldorado Gold Corporation (NYSE:EGO), Kinross Gold (NYSE:KGC), Newmont (NYSE:NEM), Goldcorp (NYSE:GG) and Barrick Gold (NYSE:ABX) all closed in positive territory Thursday as gold futures continued to rise.

Gold futures for August delivery climbed $4 to $1,547.70 an ounce. Silver prices were also up, settling at $37.32 an ounce, a 2 percent gain.

NovaGold Resources Inc. (AMEX:NG) was among the few miners closing in negative territory.

The job market in the U.S. continues on its disastrous journey, as the number of people applying for unemployment benefits for the first time rose to 427,000 last week. Economists had been looking for the number to drop to 419,000. The number applying for jobless benefits rose from the prior week as well, being upwardly revised from 422,000 to 426,000.

Gold was also the benefactor of the decision by the European Central Bank in keeping its interest rate unchanged, although it hinted it may raise interest rates in July.

The European Central Bank kept its key interest rate at 1.25 percent. The Bank of England left its main interest rate unchanged at 0.50 percent, a record low.

Kinross Gold closed Thursday at $15.63, up $0.54, or 3.58 percent. Eldorado Gold Corporation closed at $14.46, gaining $0.39, or 2.77 percent. IAMGOLD Corporation ended the session at $20.97, rising $0.59, or 2.89 percent. Goldcorp closed at $47.59, jumping $0.57, or 1.21 percent. Barrick Gold ended the day at $44.40, climbing $0.08, or 0.18 percent. Newmont closed at $52.92, increasing $0.58, or 1.11 percent.

Yamana (AUY) (GG) (NEM) (EGO) (KGC) Close Down as Gold Prices Fall

Yamana Gold (NYSE:AUY), Goldcorp (NYSE:GG), Newmont Mining (NYSE:NEM), Eldorado Gold Corporation (NYSE:EGO) and Kinross Gold Corp (NYSE:KGC) all closed down as gold prices fell on Tuesday.

Gold for August delivery fell in New York to $1,544 an ounce, a loss of $3.20.

The euro strengthened against the U.S. dollar, to a high of $1.4696. The dollar was also down against the Swiss franc to 0.8327. Against a basket of major currencies the dollar dropped to 73.506.

The Dow Jones industrial average was down 19.15 points, or 0.16 percent, to close at 12,070.81. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index dropped 1.23 points, or 0.10 percent, to end at 1,284.94. The Nasdaq Composite Index fell 1.00 point, or 0.04 percent, to close at 2,701.56.

Yamana Gold closed Tuesday at $12.02, down $0.13, or 1.07 percent. Goldcorp ended the day at $47.99, falling $0.39, or 0.81 percent. Newmont Mining closed at $52.94, declining $0.50, or 0.94 percent. Eldorado Gold ended at $14.52, dropping $0.23, or 1.56 percent. Kinross closed at $15.44, losing $0.17, or 1.09 percent.

NovaGold (NG) (GG) (NEM) (GFI) (ABX) Lag Rising Gold Prices

NovaGold Resources Inc. (AMEX:NG), Goldcorp (NYSE:GG), Newmont Mining (NYSE:NEM), Gold Fields (NYSE:GFI) and Barrick Gold (NYSE:ABX) all closed down Wednesday, lagging behind rising gold prices responding to a fragile and weak American economy, as well as weak manufacturing numbers from China and the EU.

Gold and silver went in opposite directions on Wednesday after an employment report from the ADP said an anemic 38,000 jobs were added in May, while the figure for April was downwardly revised by 2,000.

Weak manufacturing numbers from China, the U.S. and the European Union pressed on silver, although it did gain some back as the trading day advanced.

News that Germany may get behind another bailout of the insolvent Greece was also considered a positive by the market, and could put some pressure on gold if the €60 billion expected to be lent to Greece is put into effect.

The realization the United States is in fact not in a recovery is counteracting the positive news out of Europe, and will probably be a stronger determining factor in gold and silver prices than any other consideration.

Gold for August delivery climbed $6.40 to $1,543.20 an ounce. Silver for July delivery was down 61.1 cents to settle at $37.694 an ounce.

Kinross Gold was able to close slightly in positive territory on Wednesday. Most of the major gold miners were trading up after hours.

Barrick closed at $47.28, falling $0.48, or 1.01 percent. NovaGold ended the session at $11.23, dropping $0.23, or 2.01 percent. Newmont closed at $55.67, down $0.90, or 1.59 percent. Goldcorp was at $49.46, declining $0.61, or 1.22 percent. Gold Fields ended at $16.05, falling $0.39, or 2.37 percent.

Goldcorp (NYSE:GG), Barrick (NYSE:ABX), Newmont (NYSE:NEM) and Kinross (NYSE:KGC) All Up on Record Gold Prices

Weak economic news from Europe, confirming the ongoing weak global economy, has shares of Goldcorp (NYSE:GG), Barrick Gold (NYSE:ABX), Newmont Mining (NYSE:NEM) and Kinross Gold (NYSE:KGC) all moving up with the price of gold.

Gold on the New York Mercantile Exchange reached a record high of $1273.40, jumping $25.90 for December delivery.

A weaker U.S. dollar may have contributed a little earlier in the session, but the price movement of gold shows investors aren't buying into the hype that there is an economic recovery.

Mainstream financial news targets every bit of positive for their man Obama, while lightly covering the economic disaster growing under his administration.

Investors and business know the real conditions, and the ongoing weakness confirms we're a long way from any real recovery, and gold will continue its long bull run in response to those realities.

Kinross (NYSE:KGC) Believes Tasiast Mine Undervalued

There's not doubt the jewel of the upcoming merger between Kinross Gold (NYSE:KGC) and Red Back Mining is Red Back's Tasiast mine in Mauritania.

Kinross Gold Corp. President and CEO Tye Burt gets an excited look in his eye when he talks about his belief that the mine has much larger reserves than thought by most analysts.

Talk like that has also got shareholders and potential investors excited as well, leading up the the September 15 meeting where the shareholders from both companies will get together to talk over the merger, which is a friendly one.

What's exciting everyone about Tasiast, is there are currently about 5 million gold ounce reserves at the mine, with consensus saying there are probably closer to 15 million. And if Burt is correct, he's talking reserves beyond the 15 million ounce mark.

With Kinross having about 45 million ounces of gold reserves now, and if the numbers go a lot higher than 15 million ounces of gold at Tasiast, it would be a huge deal, as it could come close to being almost half of what they had before the deal.

Kinross is also looking at building a new mill which will increase capacity by 7 to 8 times what the current mill does in a day, which is to process about 8,000 to 10,000 tons of ore.

After the completion of the million is could run up to 60,000 tons at capacity.

If the upcoming deal is approved by shareholders, it should only take several days to close it.

Harry Winston (NYSE:HWD) Beats Earnings Expectations

Harry Winston Diamond Corporation (NYSE:HWD) handily beat earnings expectations for the second quarter, generating earnings per share of $0.22, against analysts' expectations of $0.04 a share.

Revenue in the quarter came to $153.7 million, up from $94.8 million in the same quarter last year, an increase of 62 percent. Profits ended at $16.5 million, in comparison to losing $24.5 million, or 32 cents a share, in 2009's second quarter.

Both its diamond retail and mining segments enjoyed stronger results, producing the improved numbers.

Significantly helping the company was currency exchange gains, which increased to $3.3 million, up from the loss of $25.3 million in foreign exchange in the same period of 2009.

Retail diamond sales rose to $66.9 million, a gain of 37 percent, while rough diamond sales ended the quarter at $86.8 million, an increase of 89 percent.

Early in August Harry Winston bought back the 9 percent stake Kinross Gold (NYSE:KGC) for $220 million, bringing its stake in the Diavik diamond mine back to 40 percent.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) Lowers Kinross (NYSE:KGC) Price Target

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) dropped its price target on Kinross Gold (NYSE:KGC), while maintaining its "Buy" rating on the gold miner.

The price target was lowered to $24, as concerns over the short-term impact of their merger with Red Back Mining (TSE:RBI) weigh on the stock.

BAC did reiterate its "Buy" rating, saying after the pains and costs of bringing the two companies together are over, they still see gold as the chief factor for the company, and they remain bullish on the upward price movement of gold over the long term.

Kinross was at $30.16 on Monday, dropping $0.49, or 1.60 percent.

Kinross (NYSE:KGC) Completes Sale of Harry Winston (NYSE:HWD) Stake

Kinross (NYSE:KGC) its Diavik diamond mine joint-venture stake back to Harry Winston (NYSE:HWD) for $220 million, returning Winston's stake in the venture to 40 percent.

To shore up its balance sheet at the height of the recession, Harry Winston sold the 9 percent indirect interest to Kinross.

Diavik is the largest diamond mine in Canada, producing over 50 million carats of rough diamonds since beginning operations seven years ago.

The diamond miner paid $50 million in cash, 7.1 million in common shares, and a note in the amount of $70 million.

At around 3:00 PM EDT, Kinross was at $16.01, gaining $0.38, or 2.43 percent. Harry Winston rose to $10.28, gaining $0.49, or 5.01 percent, both in New York.

Red Back (TSE:RBI), Deal Could Punish Kinross (NYSE:KGC) for Some Time

There shouldn't be much doubt about the Kinross Gold Corp. (NYSE:KGC) acquisition of Red Back Mining (TSE:RBI) is a good deal over the long term, but in the near term, which could mean a year or longer, Kinross could take some punishment, along with their shareholders, although it could be viewed as a buying opportunity.

Kinross has dropped to 52-week lows recently, as the market digests the effects of the deal on Kinross going forward, which are deeper than the management of the two companies had seemingly anticipated, although Red Back, the recipient of the bid, has done well as companies in these situations tend to do.

The major problem is the terms of the deal, where Red Back is valued at $7 billion, which will be financed with paper. Kinross stock will be exchanged for the assets of Red Back.

That means a significant dilution of the stock of Kinross, and that doesn't include the costs and effects of the merger of the two companies, which usually always include unintended and unidentifiable consequences.

For long term investors, this shouldn't be a problem, as the deal is a good one in that regard, and should add a lot of value to Kinross going forward.

But for those with short-term horizons, there is a lot to be concerned with, and the stock could continue to drop or go nowhere for some time to come, as it has in this high gold price environment.

Kinross was at $15.51, gaining $0.34, or 2.21 percent at 3:45 PM EDT.

Barrick (NYSE:ABX), Newmont (NYSE:NEM) and Goldcorp (NYSE:GG) to Become Next Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX)?

It's instructive to watch the major gold miners like Barrick Gold (NYSE:ABX), Newmont Mining (NYSE:NEM), Goldcorp (NYSE:GG) and Kinross (NYSE:KGC) make acquisitions, as it tells a story of where the current gold mining industry is going, at least with the larger companies.

One thing to consider is because the gold price is high and economic conditions ripe for it to continue to rise, we hear the focus of the miners primarily on gold.

But in the background they've been quietly buying up properties, while which including gold, also have a lot of secondary metals included with the acquisitions.

The gold miners will continue to rise in share price, but the question in the back of a lot of investors' minds over the long term is what happens after the prices end their run.

Answers to that question are obvious, and the gold mining companies are starting to act more like a company like Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) than pure gold miners, even though they're positioning themselves primarily as gold companies in the current economic environment.

Interestingly, Freeport gets a lower valuation than Barrick Gold, and is just ahead of Newmont and Goldcorp in market value.

That shows the premium being placed on gold at this time by investors, and that will remain that way until the gold bull market runs it course, which could easily be several years into the future, or more, depending on the actions of central banks and governments around the world; especially the Federal Reserve in the U.S.

An amazing part of this is the major gold miners, by investing in a diverse amount of metals, will become better companies, but could lose market value because they won't be considered pure gold miners any longer.

This probably won't happen anytime soon, but once the bull market is over, we'll probably see the miners named above, and others, position themselves as base metals companies, or if a particular metal or metals are hot at that time, as whatever that metal may be ... such as copper, etc.

We'll probably see a much stronger metals market at that time, and increased and more robust competition as the demand for metals soars as emerging market middle classes increase their expendable income.

Yamana (TSE:YRI), Barrick (TSE:ABX), Gold Prices Up

Yamana, Barrick and others go up with spot gold prices

Gold prices had a slight rebound today, and gold mining stocks responding by increasing as well, with gold producers like Yamana (TSE:YRI) (NYSE:AUY), Barrick Gold (TSE:ABX) (NYSE:ABX), Kinross Gold (TSE:K) (NYSE:KGC) and Jaguar Mining (NYSE:JAG) moving up on the day, depending on what stock exchange they were listed on.

Some pulled back while others continue to go up, even in after-hours trading.

After a surge which brought spot gold prices up to $1,147 an ounce, they've pulled back to around $1,140 an ounce, but still a lot higher than the gold lows experienced last week.

Lihir Gold (ASE:LGL) Bidding War About to Start?

There's no doubt Lihir Gold has positioned itself strongly as a takeover target, and after they rebuffed the offer from Newcrest Mining (ASE:NCM), growing interest from major gold mining companies seems to have created the atmosphere for a robust bidding war which will make the shareholders of Lihir Gold very happy once it's over and a winner emerges.

The longer this plays out, the more names of major gold production companies are being thrown about as to having an interest in Lihir.

Major gold companies like Goldcorp (TSE:G), AngloGold Ashanti (NYSE: AU), Kinross Gold(TSE:K), Newmont Mining (NYSE:NEM) and Barrick Gold (TSE:ABX) have all been mentioned as potential suitors of the company, and indeed have had talks of some sort with Lihir over the possibility of acquiring them.

Now the problem for these companies is they are going to have to pay a hefty premium, as there is no hiding the interest in Lihir, and their significant reserves offer a great boost to whoever buys them, although it's not going to be cheap.

A recent report stated Lihir should gold production at Lihir should increase to 1.5 million ounces as of 2016, not a insignificant amount by any measure.

Kinross Gold (TSE:K) Acquiring Underworld Resources Inc. (TSEV:UW)

Kinross Gold Acquires all of Underworld Resources

Kinross Gold Corp. (TSE:K) announced it has made an offer to acquire the rest of Underworld Resources Inc. (TSEV:UW) for cash and stock, which would value Underworld at $139.2 million.

Currently Kinross has an 8.5 percent stake in the common shares of Underworld Resources, and the offer for the rest of the company includes a small percent of a Kinross share plus a penny in cash.

The most attractive asset held by Underworld is the White Gold project in the Yukon Territory.

Kinross said the offer is a nice premium for Underworld, which recently closed under $2 a share, while the offer values Underworld shares at $2.62, depending on how the share price of Kinross fluctuates.

Kinross Gold Acquires all of Underworld Resources

Barrick Gold (TSE:ABX) and Kinross Gold (TSE:K) Down

Barrick Gold and Kinross Gold Share Price

Barrick Gold (TSE:ABX) and Kinross Gold (TSE:K) were down some yesterday, as lower gold prices put downward pressure on the gold production companies.

Much of this was related to those moving out of their hedging positions in relationship to the very volatile currency market, along with some technical selling which took place.

Barrick Gold and Kinross Gold Share Price

Kinross Gold (NYSE:KGC) Appointed to Russia's FIAC

Kinross Gold Appointed to FIAC of Russia

The appointment of Kinross Gold (NYSE:KGC) to the Foreign Investment Advisory Council (FIAC) of Russia, makes them the only company from Canada to be on the council.

Kinross has had a presence in Russia since 1995, and operationally runs the Kupol gold-silver mine in the Chukotka region of the Russian Federation. They have a 75 percent stake in the Chukotka Mining and Geological Company, while the the other 25 percent of the company is owned by the Chukotka government.

The FIAC includes 42 CEOs of companies doing business in Russia, and focuses on increasing the quality of the Russian business investment sector.

Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin chairs the council.

Kinross Gold Appointed to FIAC of Russia