It certainly hasn't been a great end to the week for the OceanaGold Corporation (ASX: OGC) share price.
In early trade the gold miner's shares are down over 7% to $3.31, extending their year-to-date decline to in excess of 21%.
What happened?
This morning the company announced its second-quarter results which revealed a sharp drop in quarter-on-quarter production.
During the second-quarter OceanaGold produced 124,396 ounces of gold and 4,322 tonnes of copper. This was a 16% and 27% reduction on the 147,956 ounces and 5,955 tonnes produced, respectively, in the first-quarter.
It is worth noting, however, that this decrease in production was expected by management and due primarily to lower production from its Didipio operation.
Management does however expect things to pick up in the second-half and has provided full-year guidance of between 550,000 and 600,000 ounces of gold.
But judging by the market's reaction today, it appears it was expecting even stronger production in the second-half.
Should you invest?
According to the release, first-half revenue came in at US$333.5 million, EBITDA was US$186.4 million, and net profit was US$61.4 million.
As a result, the company reported earnings per share of 10 U.S. cents (12.5 cents) for the first-half, which was flat on the first-half of FY 2016.
Based on today's result, OceanaGold's shares are currently changing hands at approximately 13x annualised earnings.
Whilst this is not overly expensive and is far cheaper than Newcrest Mining Limited (ASX: NCM), there certainly is better value elsewhere in the industry.
St Barbara Ltd (ASX: SBM) shares, for example, are trading at 8x estimated full-year earnings at present. This could arguably make it a better option than OceanaGold.
