New Hope for Newmont

Dogged by rising production costs and a lack of corporate direction, Newmont Mining's (NEM Quote) stock has languished for the last two years.

On Wednesday, the gold miner's shares settled at around $46, essentially where they were in the fall of 2005. That has badly lagged the performance of gold, which during the same period has seen its price jump more than 50%.

But now there are signs of a nascent recovery that could turn investors bullish on a stock many had come to loathe. One observer, Doug Groh, senior research analyst at the New York-based $1.1 billion (TGLDX Quote)Tocqueville Gold fund, believes Newmont could head toward $80 a share. ...