Pershing Gold (Ticker: PGLC US — $3.84) Price Target Change PGLC- Updating Estimates to Reflect Long-term Change in Commodity Prices
Pershing Gold Price Target Change - Buy - Updating Estimates to Reflect Long-term Change in Commodity Prices
Pershing Gold
(Ticker: PGLC US — $3.84)
Price Target Change
PGLC- Updating Estimates to Reflect Long-term Change in Commodity Prices
Revising PT upwards to $6.00. We maintain our BUY rating on PGLC but are increasing the PT from $4.10 to $6.00 per share. An increase in the PT corresponds to our NAV, which has increased from $120MM or $4.11/share to $195.1MM or $5.96/ share, following an increase in our long-term gold price. We have increased our long- term price deck for gold from $1,200/oz to $1,350/oz in 2016 and $1,500/oz in 2017 and beyond. Our bullish stance on metal prices and industry fundamentals reflect the worsening of the global economy. With interventionist strategies implemented by the central bankers to revive the economies of China, Japan, and Europe, the U.S. is going to be challenged not to take similar measures, in our opinion. This has become increasingly evident from the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting minutes on 15-16 March 2016, which now show the Fed is reversing its economic growth forecast in the U.S. from 1.375% to 0.9% and scaling down plans for a rate hike from four times to two times this year. Gold and silver seem to be a very good hedge against these interventionist policies, which after a prolonged period only seems to result in inflation and currency depreciation. Consequently, we expect the price of gold and silver to increase as investor demand grows for these metals.
PGLC Completes a $6.9MM Private Placement. On 2/26, PGLC issued 2.13 million shares, including warrants to purchase 1.1 million shares for a period of 30-months at an exercise price of US$5.06. The net proceeds of $6.1MM will be used for advancing the Relief Canyon mine into production, working capital and general corporate purposes. With the closing of the private placement, the Company’s cash position has increased from $8.3 million (in 3Q:15) to $15.7 million, adequate enough to fund the initial capital investment of $11MM. However, we believe the Company might have to raise additional cash in case it decides to conduct an exploration drilling program in 2016. Our NAV of $195.1MM reflects the private placement. Also, note that we have increased the discount rate from 5% to 9% to reflect our conservative modeling assumptions.