While the gold price has pulled back this week, it remains up materially over the past 12 months.
This is great news for ASX 200 gold stocks, which are likely to be generating huge cash flow right now.
But which gold miner is the best value? One that analysts are raving about is named below. Let's see what is being said about it.
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Which ASX 200 gold stock?
The stock that analysts are particularly bullish on is Northern Star Resources Ltd (ASX: NST). It is a gold mining giant with tier one assets in Western Australia and Alaska.
The team at Wilsons has just added this ASX 200 gold stock to its focus portfolio. These are essentially the investment company's top picks. It said:
Northern Star Resources has been added to the Focus Portfolio at a weight of 2%. While NST's operational delivery has been mixed over the last 12 months – with its FY25 production/cost guidance downgraded at its March quarterly – looking past the immediate challenges, the company's medium and long-term outlook remains highly attractive.
One of the reasons that Wilsons is positive on the gold miner is the recent acquisition of De Grey Mining, which owns the Hemi deposit. It adds:
The acquisition of De Grey Mining, completed in May 2025, has strengthened NST's production growth profile. The Tier-1 Hemi deposit is expected to deliver steady-state production of 530koz p.a. in the first ten years of its mine life, with final permitting and approvals expected in December 2025 and consensus expectations for first gold in 1Q FY28.
Hemi is expected to be in the bottom quartile of the global cost curve, with a life-of-mine average all-in sustaining cost (AISC) of ~US$860/oz (at spot FX), which is meaningfully below NST's FY24a AISC of ~US$1,240/oz.
The investment company also highlights that the ASX 200 gold stock's free cash flow outlook is the best it has been in years. Wilsons explains:
Strong production growth, coupled with a declining capex profile after CY27, is expected to drive a highly attractive free cash flow yield from CY27 onward. Consensus forecasts currently point to a double-digit yield by the end of this decade (before factoring in potential upgrades to consensus gold price assumptions). On this basis, when taking a medium-term view, NST is valued highly attractively compared to the other ASX gold majors.
Is anyone else bullish?
Wilsons isn't alone with its bullish view on Northern Star.
For example, the team at Morgans has a buy rating and $25.32 price target on its shares, whereas Macquarie has an outperform rating and $26.00 price target on them.
Based on its current share price of $18.25, this implies potential upside of 39% and 42%, respectively, over the next 12 months.
Overall, the general consensus is that this could be a great ASX gold stock to buy right now.
