AuRico Gold Inc Stock Upgraded (AUQ)

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- AuRico Gold Inc (NYSE:AUQ) has been upgraded by TheStreet Ratings from hold to buy. The company's strengths can be seen in multiple areas, such as its robust revenue growth, largely solid financial position with reasonable debt levels by most measures, solid stock price performance, expanding profit margins and compelling growth in net income. Although no company is perfect, currently we do not see any significant weaknesses which are likely to detract from the generally positive outlook.

Highlights from the ratings report include:

• AUQ's very impressive revenue growth greatly exceeded the industry average of 69.5%. Since the same quarter one year prior, revenues leaped by 101.9%. Growth in the company's revenue appears to have helped boost the earnings per share.
• AUQ's debt-to-equity ratio is very low at 0.03 and is currently below that of the industry average, implying that there has been very successful management of debt levels. To add to this, AUQ has a quick ratio of 2.12, which demonstrates the ability of the company to cover short-term liquidity needs.
• Powered by its strong earnings growth of 620.00% and other important driving factors, this stock has surged by 54.09% over the past year, outperforming the rise in the S&P 500 Index during the same period. Regarding the stock's future course, although almost any stock can fall in a broad market decline, AUQ should continue to move higher despite the fact that it has already enjoyed a very nice gain in the past year.
• The gross profit margin for AURICO GOLD INC is rather high; currently it is at 68.70%. It has increased significantly from the same period last year. Along with this, the net profit margin of 55.90% significantly outperformed against the industry average.
• The net income growth from the same quarter one year ago has significantly exceeded that of the S&P 500 and the Metals & Mining industry. The net income increased by 732.6% when compared to the same quarter one year prior, rising from $7.52 million to $62.61 million.

AuRico Gold Inc. engages in the exploration, development, and production of gold and silver mines and projects in Mexico. The company was formerly known as Gammon Gold, Inc. and changed its name to AuRico Gold Inc. in June, 2011. The company has a P/E ratio of 24.2, above the average metals & mining industry P/E ratio of 22.2 and above the S&P 500 P/E ratio of 17.7. AuRico has a market cap of $1.8 billion and is part of the basic materials sector and metals & mining industry. Shares are up 28.7% year to date as of the close of trading on Friday.

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