Nach Ansicht von Merrill Lynch sind die US- Goldaktien überbewertet :
Even as gold flagged, there was word from Merrill Lynch that gold producers may be overvalued. The analysts reported that the net asset values (NAVs) of many North American gold companies declined in 2004 due to higher operational and capital costs.
Across the board, gold producer NAVs were down an average 7 percent, ranging from Goldcorp – which actually gained 4 percent – to Golden Star Resources, which dropped 16.5 percent. NAVs for Barrick and Newmont declined by around 7 percent, with Placer Dome dropping 9.5 percent. “This is due to higher consumables costs, declining ore grades and rising labor costs,” wrote Merrill. They further noted that stock price now exceeds asset value by between 2 and 2.8 times for many of the major gold miners.