Newmont Stock Slides Thursday As Rising Fuel Costs, Lower Gold Prices Squeeze Margins

Newmont Corporation (NYSE:NEM) shares are trading lower Thursday afternoon after a macro reset across the gold complex punished miners and raised fresh concerns about margin pressure. Here’s what investors need to know. Newmont stock is among today’s weakest performers. What’s pressuring NEM stock? Gold-To-Oil Crash Hits Gold Miners The broader sell-off comes as gold suffers its worst monthly performance against Brent crude since December 1973, a historic divergence that is hitting mining shares especially hard. Gold is down 13% month to date, while the gold-to-Brent ratio has plunged 43% to roughly 40, signaling a sharp deterioration in sector profitability. For investors, the key issue is not just weaker bullion prices. It is the double squeeze now bearing down on producers like Newmont. Miners are being hit from both sides: falling realized gold prices reduce revenue, while surging fuel costs raise operating expenses. Rising Diesel Costs And Fed Fears Deepen Margin Pressure Diesel, a major input for heavy mining equipment, has jumped 61% since the Iran war began, and energy typically represents 15% to 20% of total cash costs at major gold operations. At higher-cost mines, that kind of move can crush margins altogether. The pressure is also being amplified by shifting rate expectations. Rising oil prices are reviving inflation fears and erasing prior expectations for Federal Reserve cuts. That reversal has helped trigger a historic unwind in gold miners, with the VanEck Gold Miners ETF down 29% in 19 days, on pace for its worst monthly collapse since October 2008. Newmont Stock Nears Oversold Territory As RSI Slips Newmont's RSI has trended mostly in the neutral range over the past year, with several brief overbought spikes above 70, but momentum has recently deteriorated sharply. The latest reading has fallen to around 30, signaling the stock is approaching oversold territory and reflecting intensifying downside pressure. NEM Q1 Earnings Expectations And Valuation Overview Looking further out, the next major catalyst for the stock arrives with the April 22 earnings report. EPS Estimate: $2.13 (Up from $1.25 YoY) Revenue Estimate: $6.69 Billion (Up from $5.01 Billion YoY) Valuation: P/E of 16.7x (Suggests fair valuation relative to peers) NEM Analyst Consensus, Price Target And Recent Rating Actions Analyst Consensus & Recent Actions: The stock carries a Buy Rating with an average price target of $97.21. Recent analyst moves include: Citigroup: Buy (Raises Target to $150.00) (Mar. 3) Bernstein: Upgraded to Market Outperform (Raises Target to $157.00) (Feb. 27) Scotiabank: Sector Outperform (Raises Target to $152.00) (Jan. 26) NEM Shares Slide Thursday Afternoon NEM Price Action: Newmont shares were down 8.93% at $97.04 at the time of publication on Thursday, according to Benzinga Pro data. Image: Shutterstock