Agnico Eagle Mines beats Street on higher gold sales volume

(Reuters) - Agnico Eagle Mines Ltd reported a better-than-expected quarterly profit on Wednesday, helped by higher realized gold prices and gold sales volumes at its Meliadine mine in northern Canada.

Gold miners have benefited from a prolonged tariff dispute between the United States and China as investors looked for relief in safe haven assets, boosting gold prices. Average gold prices rose 22% in the third quarter from a year earlier.

Agnico Eagle, which operates mines in Canada, Finland and Mexico, said all-in sustaining costs per ounce (AISC) were $903 in the quarter ended Sept. 30, compared with $848 a year earlier.

The company raised its 2019 total production forecast to 1.77 million to 1.78 million ounces of gold, from previous guidance of 1.75 million ounces.

Net income jumped more than four-fold to $76.7 million, or 32 cents per share.

Excluding items, the company earned 37 cents per share, compared with estimates of 28 cents, according to Refinitiv IBES data. Agnico has beaten earnings estimate for the fifth straight quarter.

Agnico recorded payable gold production of 476,937 ounces, compared with 421,718 ounces last year.

Revenue rose 32% to $682.96 million, but was below estimates of $694.84 million.

(Reporting by Arunima Kumar in Bengaluru; Editing by Shailesh Kuber and Maju Samuel)