Junior and mid-tier gold miners in the GDXJ top 25 earned an implied $3,214 per ounce in Q2 2026, up 67.6% year over year and the second-highest quarterly profit on record. Yet the group traded at a trailing price-to-earnings ratio of just 16.1x in mid-August — the cheapest valuation in at least 41 quarters. Gold's $4,266 average price so far in Q3 points to another strong earnings quarter when results arrive from late October to mid-November.
Junior and mid-tier gold miners tracked by the GDXJ top 25 earned an implied $3,214 per ounce in Q2 2026, the average gold price for the quarter minus the group's average all-in sustaining costs. That marks a 67.6% jump from a year earlier, with only Q1 2026 posting a higher figure. Unit earnings rose year over year in each of the last twelve quarters, extending the streak.
Valuations lag even as profits climb
Despite the earnings run, GDXJ top-25 companies traded at a trailing twelve-month price-to-earnings ratio of just 16.1x in mid-August, the lowest reading in at least 41 quarters of tracked data. Smaller gold miners' stocks therefore remain widely overlooked even as their profits rank second-highest on record.
Gold's strong quarter points to more earnings growth
Gold has averaged $4,266 per ounce quarter-to-date in Q3 2026, the third-highest quarterly average on record. It trails only Q1's $4,873 average and Q2's $4,512 average. The last four reported quarters through Q2 saw average all-in sustaining costs of $1,398 per ounce. Q3 results are due from late October to mid-November.
Junior miners swing from deep oversold to sharp rebound
The GDXJ junior gold miners fund dropped 41.3% over 4.7 months between its late-February peak and a mid-July low. At that low, GDXJ traded at 79.6% of its 200-day moving average, the most oversold reading in 3.7 years. GDXJ then rebounded 48.3% between mid-July and late August. It still remained 22.4% below its February record close and was down 5.2% month-to-date in September. Gold itself fell 3.7% over the same September stretch.
Source: Investing.com
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