New Hope Corp Ltd (ASX: NHC) shares are jumping higher today following the release of the miner's quarterly results.
Shares in the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) coal stock closed on Friday trading for $4.72. In late morning trade on Monday, shares are changing hands for $4.82 each, up 2.1%.
For some context, the ASX 200 is up 0.1% at this same time.
With today's intraday gains factored in, New Hope shares are now up 8.5% over the past 12 months, handily beating the 4.6% one-year returns delivered by the benchmark index.
And that's not including the 34 cents a share in fully franked dividends New Hope paid out over this period. The ASX 200 coal stock trades on a fully franked 7.1% trailing dividend yield.
Part of that outperformance has been driven by New Hope's own operational successes on and beneath the ground. The miner has also enjoyed a rebound in global coal prices. Thermal coal is trading near its recent 12-month highs of US$116 per tonne, up from US$94 per tonne last April.
And looking to the months ahead, Fairmont Equities' Michael Gable forecasts more outperformance to come (courtesy of The Bull).
Here's why.
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New Hope shares still in the buy zone
"I believe global demand for coal will remain elevated moving forward," said Gable, citing the first reason you might want to buy New Hope shares today.
As for the second reason the ASX 200 coal stock could continue to outperform, Gable said:
New supply is also constrained due to ESG (environmental, social, governance) concerns. Governments around the world are keeping coal in the mix when it comes to power generation and the price of coal was recently starting to rise again.
Gable rounded off with the third reason, concluding, "Strong buying support is emerging in coal producers, such as NHC, and I believe it's still early enough to buy back into this company."
What did the ASX 200 coal stock report?
For the three months ending 31 January, New Hope reported a 4.8% quarter-on-quarter increase in Run of Mine (ROM) coal production to 4.1 million tonnes. Coal sales of 2.9 million tonnes were up 8.2%.
As mentioned up top, New Hope shares have enjoyed tailwinds from rising global coal prices. Over the quarter, the miner achieved an average realised sales price of $139.0 per tonne, up 1.8% from the prior quarter.
New Hope reported quarterly underlying earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) of $106.9 million, in line with last quarter.
Commenting on the results, New Hope CEO Rob Bishop said:
Our operations delivered improved productivity and output on the back of better mining conditions and logistics performance. We are focused on maintaining safe, reliable production and delivering value to our shareholders.
