NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Shares of Kinross Gold Corp. (KGC) - Get Report are lower by 6.18% to $2.58 in mid-morning trading on Friday, as the gold sector takes a hit due to the decline in the price of the precious metal, which is down as a result of better than expected U.S. jobs data.

Gold for April delivery is slipping by 1.69% to $1,176 per ounce on the COMEX this morning.

The Labor Department said today that in February employers added 295,000 jobs to payroll and the unemployment rate fell to 5.5%.

Economists polled by the Wall Street Journal were expecting payroll to rise by 240,000 last month.

Better than expected jobs data could support the Fed's case to raise interest rates later this year.

"This is not good for gold. This adds fuel to the fire for the idea that the Fed will raise rates sooner rather than later," broker Bob Haberkorn of RJO Futures told the Journal.

When interest rates rise, gold will struggle to compete with yield-bearing investments as it pays its holders nothing, the Journal noted.

Separately, TheStreet Ratings team rates KINROSS GOLD CORP as a Sell with a ratings score of D. TheStreet Ratings Team has this to say about their recommendation:

"We rate KINROSS GOLD CORP (KGC) a SELL. This is driven by some concerns, which we believe should have a greater impact than any strengths, and could make it more difficult for investors to achieve positive results compared to most of the stocks we cover. The company's weaknesses can be seen in multiple areas, such as its unimpressive growth in net income, weak operating cash flow and generally disappointing historical performance in the stock itself."

Highlights from the analysis by TheStreet Ratings Team goes as follows:

• 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 66.4% when compared to the same quarter one year ago, falling from -$742.10 million to -$1,235.10 million.
• Despite any intermediate fluctuations, we have only bad news to report on this stock's performance over the last year: it has tumbled by 46.22%, worse than the S&P 500's performance. Consistent with the plunge in the stock price, the company's earnings per share are down 98.46% compared to the year-earlier quarter. Naturally, the overall market trend is bound to be a significant factor. However, in one sense, the stock's sharp decline last year is a positive for future investors, making it cheaper (in proportion to its earnings over the past year) than most other stocks in its industry. But due to other concerns, we feel the stock is still not a good buy right now.
• Net operating cash flow has declined marginally to $176.30 million or 3.97% when compared to the same quarter last year. Despite a decrease in cash flow of 3.97%, KINROSS GOLD CORP is still significantly exceeding the industry average of -57.24%.
• The company's current return on equity greatly increased when compared to its ROE from the same quarter one year prior. This is a signal of significant strength within the corporation. Compared to other companies in the Metals & Mining industry and the overall market, KINROSS GOLD CORP's return on equity significantly trails that of both the industry average and the S&P 500.
• KGC, with its decline in revenue, underperformed when compared the industry average of 2.5%. Since the same quarter one year prior, revenues slightly dropped by 9.8%. Weakness in the company's revenue seems to have hurt the bottom line, decreasing earnings per share.
• You can view the full analysis from the report here: KGC Ratings Report