Shin Kong Wedbush - Reiterates A 'buy' Rating On Agnico-eagle Mines (aem)

Shin Kong Wedbush analyst says, "While there was an earnings miss and 2009 guidance was modestly reduced, the project development schedule remains on track. Our 2010 production forecast is essentially unchanged though we have increased our total cash cost estimate due to higher assumed site costs at both LaRonde and Goldex. We are upgrading our recommendation on Agnico shares to BUY from HOLD based on relative share price underperformance in little more than one week since our downgrade, and the company’s above-average leverage to gold price due to a high ratio of reserves/share."((Agnico-Eagle is an international growth company focused on gold, with operations in Canada and Finland and advanced-stage projects and opportunities in Canada, Mexico and the U.S.A. Our LaRonde mine in Quebec is Canada's largest gold deposit in terms of reserves. The mine generates strong earnings and cash flows, and is an excellent foundation for Agnico-Eagle's international expansion.

The company's operating history includes more than 30 years of continuous gold production primarily from underground operations. Since its amalgamation in 1972, Agnico-Eagle has produced over 4.0 million ounces of gold. We are one of the lowest total cash cost producers in the North American gold mining industry.

Agnico-Eagle has traditionally sold all of its production at the spot price of gold, in keeping with a policy of not selling forward future gold production. This policy enables shareholders to participate fully in rising precious metal prices.

By: Ken Chen

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Ken Chen has been a financial analyst for more than 25 years. He began his career as a financial analyst with the corporate part of the capital markets back in the 1980's. Since then he has had the opportunity to work with most of the international financial press agencies as an Asian financial correspondent covering all the big stories from Shin Kong financial to Wedbush Morgan. Today, he's a financial analyst for Shin Kong Wedbush, a Taiwanese based investment company.