South32 Limited (ASX: S32) shares have been hit by a downgrade from investment bank Goldman Sachs.
South32 is a mining company that was spun out of BHP in 2015. They produce bauxite, alumina, aluminium, nickel and various other metals through operations in Australia, Southern Africa and South America. South32 shares are listed on the ASX and also have secondary listings on the London and Johannesburg stock exchanges.
Goldman Says Sell
Goldman Sachs updated their rating for South32 on Monday afternoon from neutral to sell, and shares are down more than 4% since then.
In the report, Goldman Sachs stated that they expect March quarter production to be weak for most Australian bulk miners due to cyclone activity through the quarter. While South32 shares were downgraded, other ASX miners BHP Group Ltd (ASX: BHP), Rio Tinto Ltd (ASX: RIO) and Fortescue Metals Group Ltd (ASX: FMG) all retained their neutral ratings.
The reason given was that South32 shares were trading at a higher valuation than the other miners, at 1.3x net asset value.
One company they did remain positive on was Alumina Ltd (ASX: AWC), which retained a buy rating.
Iron Ore Miners Sold Down, Gold Up
Fortescue and BHP shares are both around 1% lower today as the spot price of iron ore dropped overnight. Overall, the materials sector is down around 0.5% since market open.
The miners pushing higher today are mostly gold miners, such as Resolute Mining Ltd (ASX: RSG) and St Barbara Ltd (ASX: SBM) as gold futures rose slightly overnight. St Barbara and Resolute are both among the top 5 positive movers at the time of writing.
For more related news, have a look at this Rask Media article, which examines what has been driving the Fortescue share price for the last six months, or this Rask Media article which asks whether Rio Tinto shares are really worth $100.
Alternatively, if you’re looking for companies that don’t rely on resource prices to support their valuations, check out the three companies in the free report below.
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Disclaimer: At the time of writing, Max does not own shares in any of the companies mentioned.
