Taseko Mines Ltd NPL Stock Downgraded (TGB)

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Taseko Mines Ltd NPL (AMEX:TGB) has been downgraded by TheStreet Ratings from buy to hold. The company's strengths can be seen in multiple areas, such as its largely solid financial position with reasonable debt levels by most measures and expanding profit margins. However, as a counter to these strengths, we also find weaknesses including a generally disappointing performance in the stock itself, feeble growth in the company's earnings per share and deteriorating net income.

Highlights from the ratings report include:

• Despite currently having a low debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47, it is higher than that of the industry average, inferring that management of debt levels may need to be evaluated further. Even though the debt-to-equity ratio shows mixed results, the company's quick ratio of 5.66 is very high and demonstrates very strong liquidity.
• 35.80% is the gross profit margin for TASEKO MINES LTD which we consider to be strong. Despite the high profit margin, it has decreased significantly from the same period last year. Despite the mixed results of the gross profit margin, TGB's net profit margin of -12.70% significantly underperformed when compared to the industry average.
• TASEKO MINES LTD has exprienced a steep decline in earnings per share in the most recent quarter in comparison to its performance from the same quarter a year ago. The company has suffered a declining pattern earnings per share over the past two years. During the past fiscal year, TASEKO MINES LTD reported lower earnings of $0.13 versus $0.77 in the prior year.
• The company, on the basis of change in net income from the same quarter one year ago, has significantly underperformed when compared to that of the S&P 500 and the Metals & Mining industry. The net income has significantly decreased by 130.4% when compared to the same quarter one year ago, falling from $25.33 million to -$7.69 million.

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Taseko Mines Limited engages in the exploration, development, and operation of mineral properties in British Columbia, Canada. The company has a P/E ratio of 14.3, above the average metals & mining industry P/E ratio of 12 and below the S&P 500 P/E ratio of 17.7. Taseko Mines Ltd NPL has a market cap of $643 million and is part of the basic materials sector and metals & mining industry. Shares are up 35.5% year to date as of the close of trading on Wednesday.

You can view the full Taseko Mines Ltd NPL Ratings Report or get investment ideas from our investment research center.
-- Written by a member of TheStreet Ratings Staff

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