NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Shares of Newmont Mining (NEM) - Get Report are lower by 0.27% to $22.06 in after-hours trading after ending Tuesday's regular trading session down 0.81% to $22.12, as gold prices trade in the red ahead of the Federal Reserve policy meeting that could give clues as to the exact timing of the interest rates hikes, according to Reuters.

Spot gold touched its lowest level since November 7 at $1,142.86 an ounce earlier today. U.S. gold futures for April delivery was down 0.49% to $1,147.60 an ounce as of 4:11 p.m. ET today.

Tomorrow is the Federal Reserve's interest rate announcement, following the two day Federal Open Market Committee policy meeting.

Many analysts expect the Fed to remove the word, "patient" from its policy statement, which could bring it closer to raising interest rates, Reuters noted.

Greenwood Village, CO-based Newmont Mining is primarily a gold producer with operations and assets in the U.S., Australia, Peru, Indonesia, Ghana, New Zealand and Mexico.

Separately, TheStreet Ratings team rates NEWMONT MINING CORP as a Hold with a ratings score of C. TheStreet Ratings Team has this to say about their recommendation:

"We rate NEWMONT MINING CORP (NEM) a HOLD. The primary factors that have impacted our rating are mixed, some indicating strength, some showing weaknesses, with little evidence to justify the expectation of either a positive or negative performance for this stock relative to most other stocks. The company's strengths can be seen in multiple areas, such as its impressive record of earnings per share growth, compelling growth in net income and reasonable valuation levels. However, as a counter to these strengths, we find that the stock has had a generally disappointing performance in the past year."

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

• NEWMONT MINING CORP reported significant earnings per share improvement in the most recent quarter compared to the same quarter a year ago. The company has demonstrated a pattern of positive earnings per share growth over the past year. We feel that this trend should continue. This trend suggests that the performance of the business is improving. During the past fiscal year, NEWMONT MINING CORP turned its bottom line around by earning $1.10 versus -$5.21 in the prior year. This year, the market expects an improvement in earnings ($1.24 versus $1.10).
• 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 101.3% when compared to the same quarter one year prior, rising from -$1,187.00 million to $15.00 million.
• 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 on the basis of return on equity, NEWMONT MINING CORP has outperformed in comparison with the industry average, but has underperformed when compared to that of the S&P 500.
• NEM's debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65 is somewhat low overall, but it is high when compared to the industry average, implying that the management of the debt levels should be evaluated further. Regardless of the somewhat mixed results with the debt-to-equity ratio, the company's quick ratio of 1.40 is sturdy.
• NEM has underperformed the S&P 500 Index, declining 10.88% from its price level of one year ago. The fact that the stock is now selling for less than others in its industry in relation to its current earnings is not reason enough to justify a buy rating at this time.
• You can view the full analysis from the report here: NEM Ratings Report