Barrick Q3 2026 Earnings: Gold Costs Inside Guidance, Copper Costs Above It
Barrick Mining’s Q3 2026 earnings, out before the open on November 9, cleared a bar that had come down. Adjusted earnings of US$0.82 a share, a non-GAAP measure Barrick defines itself, beat a Yahoo Finance consensus of US$0.796 by about 3% on our arithmetic. That consensus was 14.6% lower than the one the same analysts carried 90 days earlier. Underneath the beat, the operating detail splits in two directions: nine months of gold costs sit inside every full-year range Barrick left unchanged, and nine months of copper costs sit above the top of all three. Barrick reports in US dollars, so every figure here is in US dollars unless it carries C$.
The quarter in the company’s own figures
The third quarter results release prints the quarter against both of its comparatives.
| US$ millions except per share | Q3 2026 | Q2 2026 | chg | Q3 2025 | chg |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenues | 5,073 | 5,292 | (4)% | 4,148 | 22% |
| Cost of sales | 2,361 | 2,395 | (1)% | 1,890 | 25% |
| Net earnings (attributable) | 1,317 | 1,217 | 8% | 1,302 | 1% |
| Adjusted net earnings (non-GAAP) | 1,347 | 1,363 | (1)% | 982 | 37% |
| Attributable adjusted EBITDA (non-GAAP) | 2,475 | 2,545 | (3)% | 2,022 | 22% |
| Net cash provided by operating activities | 2,489 | 1,704 | 46% | 2,422 | 3% |
| Attributable free cash flow (non-GAAP) | 642 | 141 | 355% | 1,154 | (44)% |
| Total attributable capital expenditures | 1,157 | 978 | 18% | 757 | 53% |
| Net earnings per share (basic and diluted) | 0.80 | 0.73 | 10% | 0.76 | 5% |
| Adjusted net earnings per share (non-GAAP) | 0.82 | 0.82 | 0% | 0.58 | 41% |
| Weighted average diluted shares (millions) | 1,641 | 1,666 | (2)% | 1,703 | (4)% |
| Net cash | 909 | 1,245 | (27)% | 323 | 181% |
Three months to September 30, 2026, with the comparatives and the percentage changes as the release prints them. The final row appears in the release as “Debt, net of cash” in parentheses, meaning negative net debt. The release prose gives the direction: “ending the quarter with net cash of $0.9 billion, up from $0.3 billion in Q3 2025”. Source: Barrick Q3 2026 results release, Financial and Operating Highlights.
Revenue up 22% came with lower volumes in both metals. Gold sold fell to 810 thousand attributable ounces from 837 while the realized gold price rose to US$4,243 an ounce from US$3,457. Copper sold fell to 49 thousand tonnes from 52 as the realized copper price rose to US$6.54 a pound from US$4.39.
Barrick cleared a consensus bar that had come down 14.6%
The Yahoo Finance consensus of 15 analysts stood at US$0.796 of adjusted earnings a share on November 7. Ninety days earlier the same series read US$0.932, a decline of 14.6%. Our preview of this quarter argued that the cut and Barrick’s unchanged guidance were not in conflict, because the company guides ounces, cost per ounce and capital spending rather than earnings per share. On our arithmetic the resolution runs both ways: US$0.82 beats the cut consensus by about 3%, and it falls 12.0% short of the estimate that stood three months ago. It sits inside the analyst range of US$0.65 to US$0.91. Revenue of US$5,073 million came 1.0% light of the US$5,125 million seven analysts expected, inside their range, which starts at US$5,012 million. Across the past eight quarters this consensus has been beaten five times and missed three, with an average surprise of plus 7.62%, so a beat of about 3% is a narrow one by that record.
The quarter the estimates came down into was also softer than the one before it. Revenue fell 4% from the second quarter, adjusted net earnings 1% and attributable adjusted EBITDA 3%. Barrick’s realized gold price fell 4% to US$4,243 an ounce from US$4,417 and the market gold price it prints beside it fell 5%, while gold all-in sustaining cost rose 2% to US$1,911 an ounce from US$1,866, those three our arithmetic on the company’s rows.
The figure the Street measures against is Barrick’s adjusted number rather than its reported one, and the two part company. The gap is small this quarter, US$0.82 adjusted against US$0.80 reported. A year ago it was wide and ran the other way, US$0.58 adjusted against US$0.76 reported, which is why adjusted is the only side of the comparison that holds. Why a company publishes two earnings figures, and which one answers which question, is the ground our guide to how to read financial statements covers.
The gold cost ranges hold, the copper cost ranges do not
Every 2026 production and cost guidance line is unchanged. For gold: production of 2.90 to 3.25 million ounces, cost of sales of US$1,870 to US$2,070 an ounce, total cash costs of US$1,330 to US$1,470 and all-in sustaining costs of US$1,760 to US$1,950, on a US$4,500 an ounce gold price assumption. For copper: production of 190,000 to 220,000 tonnes, cost of sales of US$3.05 to US$3.35 a pound, C1 cash costs of US$2.20 to US$2.45 and all-in sustaining costs of US$3.45 to US$3.75, on assumptions of US$5.50 a pound copper and US$70 a barrel WTI. The per-unit measures are all Barrick’s own non-GAAP figures, with the World Gold Council definition behind total cash costs and all-in sustaining costs.
Set nine months of actuals against those ranges, which is our arithmetic on the company’s own figures, and the two metals diverge. Gold cost of sales of US$1,956 an ounce, total cash costs of US$1,381 and all-in sustaining costs of US$1,831 all sit inside their ranges, between 36% and 43% of the way up them. The gold line is climbing its range, though: the third quarter alone put all-in sustaining costs at US$1,911 an ounce, 79.5% of the way up the US$1,760 to US$1,950 band and within US$39 of its top, after a second quarter at US$1,866. Every copper measure sits above its range top: cost of sales of US$3.48 a pound is 3.9% above the US$3.35 top, C1 cash costs of US$2.60 are 6.1% above the US$2.45 top, and all-in sustaining costs of US$4.05 are 8.0% above the US$3.75 top. The third quarter on its own is further out. Copper all-in sustaining costs of US$4.52 a pound are 20.5% above the top of a range the company reiterated, and Q3 C1 of US$2.76 and cost of sales of US$3.65 are above their tops too.
Guidance ranges as stated in the “2026 Guidance” section of Barrick’s third quarter 2026 results release of November 9, 2026. Actuals are the nine months ended September 30, 2026, from the operating results table in the same release. Placing the actuals against the ranges is our arithmetic.
Nine months above the top of all three ranges means the full-year copper ranges now depend on a fourth quarter cheap enough to pull the twelve-month average back inside them. Barrick has neither withdrawn nor widened them, and it names what moved the costs: “primarily reflecting higher diesel prices, and local currency appreciation, particularly in labor costs.” The sensitivity it publishes beside the guidance sizes one of those two. “For every $10 per barrel change in the oil price, the direct impact on costs associated with diesel consumption is approximately $12 per ounce across Barrick’s gold operations, and $0.04 per pound across its copper operations.”
Keep the proportion in view, because it decides how much this matters. Copper revenue was US$677 million of the quarter’s US$5,073 million, so the metal under cost pressure is the small end of Barrick’s business, and the gold ranges, which cover most of it, are intact. Gold costs did rise: all-in sustaining costs of US$1,911 an ounce in the quarter against US$1,538 a year earlier, which the release attributes to lower grades processed, higher royalties on higher realized gold prices, elevated diesel prices and, for the all-in measure, higher sustaining capital. Costs rose in both metals and prices rose faster. Subtract all-in sustaining cost from the realized price, our subtraction on the release’s own rows, and the margin on an ounce of gold was US$2,332 in the quarter against US$1,919 a year earlier, 21.5% wider. On a pound of copper it was US$2.02 against US$1.25, 61.6% wider. That spread between cost per ounce and price per ounce is the line to set side by side across the sector’s other names, which we rank in our guide to Canadian gold stocks.
Two production figures, both the company’s own
The release’s opening bullet puts gold production at 816 thousand attributable ounces, up 3% from Q2 2026 and “6% year-over-year (excluding divested assets)”. Endnote 2 defines the exclusion: “Gold production from continuing operations (excludes ounces from Hemlo and Tongon).” The unadjusted total appears further down the same release, and it fell. Total attributable gold production was 2% lower than a year earlier, 816 thousand ounces against 829, and 2,331 against 2,384 over nine months. Barrick attributes that decline largely to extreme weather at Veladero and delayed access to high-grade material at North Mara, “which is expected to be accessed in Q4 2026”. The 6% is its own calculation on a basis whose prior-year comparative the release does not print, so it stands as the company’s figure rather than one we have checked.
Full-year guidance of 2.90 to 3.25 million ounces against nine months of 2,331 thousand leaves a fourth quarter of 569 to 919 thousand ounces, our arithmetic. The quarters so far run 719 thousand, which we derive by subtracting the second and third quarters from the nine-month total, then 796 and 816. The bottom of that implied range sits 30.3% below the quarter just delivered, and the top needs a quarter 12.6% above it and larger than any quarter of 2026 so far. Barrick points at the North Mara material and at two ramp-ups, Goldrush at Cortez and Loulo-Gounkoto, the latter “in a strong ramp-up that remains ahead of schedule” and 16% larger than in the second quarter.
Revenue rose 22%, attributable free cash flow fell 44%
Attributable free cash flow, another measure Barrick defines itself, was US$642 million against US$1,154 million a year earlier. Capital spending is what opened that gap: total attributable capital expenditures of US$1,157 million were up 53% year over year, against revenue up 22%. Nine months make the shape plainer: revenue up 42%, attributable capital expenditures up 37%, attributable free cash flow up 12% to US$1,996 million.
Returns ran ahead of the quarter’s cash generation. Barrick “returned $1.04 billion to shareholders through $761 million of share repurchases and a quarterly dividend of $0.175 per share, driving a 23% year-over-year increase in total shareholder returns”, which leaves about US$280 million for the dividend by our subtraction. That US$1.04 billion is 1.6 times the quarter’s attributable free cash flow on our arithmetic, and net cash fell from US$1,245 million to US$909 million, a draw of US$336 million. Both comparisons the release’s own table supports are worth holding together: net cash is up from US$0.3 billion a year ago, which is the one the release states in prose, and down from US$1.2 billion three months ago. The buybacks run under the previously announced US$3.0 billion authorization, which the release notes “does not obligate the Company to acquire common shares”.
The dividend is US$0.175 a share, payable December 15, 2026 to holders of record on November 30, 2026. The policy targets “a total payout of 50% of attributable free cash flow on an annualized basis through a fixed quarterly dividend of $0.175 per share, and a year-end performance top-up based on attributable free cash flow generated during the year”, with distributions varying “depending on cash flow, capital requirements, balance sheet considerations, and other factors”. The mechanism matters here: the top-up is keyed to attributable free cash flow, which is up 12% over nine months while revenue is up 42%. Capital spending guidance of US$3.8 to US$4.2 billion was previously reduced from US$4.0 to US$4.45 billion, “primarily reflecting lower anticipated spending at the Reko Diq project, which is under review”.
Lumwana, Pueblo Viejo and a full year of delivery
The copper growth is at Lumwana, where the mill expansion in Zambia is “on budget and on schedule for first copper at the end of Q1 2028” and is expected to double copper production, with 2026 spending at the lower end of guidance. At Pueblo Viejo the Naranjo tailings facility is the main focus, temporary water management structures are over 20% complete and the full starter dam permit package is targeted for submission in the first quarter of 2027.
Mark Hill, president and chief executive, frames the quarter as the close of a full year of delivery on a programme he dates to twelve months ago: “Twelve months ago, we set out to earn back trust and restore Barrick to its history of discipline and excellence. This quarter marks a full year of consistent delivery.” That is his characterisation of the record, and the cost tables are the part of it a reader can check line by line.
ABX last traded at C$57.20 on Friday, November 6, 2026, against a previous close of C$56.53, for a market capitalisation of about C$94 billion (market data as of November 6, 2026, source StockAnalysis). The shares trade in Canadian dollars in Toronto and under the symbol B in New York, while the accounts are in US dollars, so the US$0.82 of adjusted earnings a share and that C$57.20 close belong to two different currencies.
Disclaimer: The content on bestcanadianstocks.ca is for informational and entertainment purposes only and does not constitute financial advice. Past performance is not indicative of future results. Always consult a qualified financial advisor before making investment decisions. Company figures are Barrick Mining Corporation’s own, from its third quarter 2026 results release of November 9, 2026, and its separate Q3 2026 dividend declaration of the same morning. Barrick reports in US dollars; its shares trade on the Toronto Stock Exchange in Canadian dollars, and every figure here is labelled with its currency. Production, cost and earnings figures are on Barrick’s attributable basis, which is the basis the company leads with. Cost of sales per ounce, total cash costs, all-in sustaining costs, C1 cash costs, adjusted net earnings, attributable adjusted EBITDA and attributable free cash flow are non-GAAP measures Barrick defines itself. Analyst consensus figures are from Yahoo Finance as at November 7, 2026 and cover adjusted earnings per share. The closing share price is from StockAnalysis as of the November 6, 2026 close. Figures described as our arithmetic are our own calculations on the company’s published numbers: the position of the nine-month cost actuals within the full-year guidance ranges, the fourth-quarter production implied by the nine-month total and the full-year range, the comparison of shareholder returns to attributable free cash flow, the sequential change in net cash, and the percentage differences against consensus.
