Gold Miners Shine Despite Gold's Dismal Quarter

Despite gold's dismal performance in Q2'26, major gold miners have reported near-record profits. The sector's fundamentals remain strong, making gold stocks great buys.

The GDX VanEck Gold Miners ETF is the dominant benchmark for the sector, with a $28.0b net asset value midweek and an insurmountable lead over its competitors. It commands much of its weighting from the world's biggest gold miners.

The gold miners' profits are largely due to their big inherent leverage to prevailing gold prices. Despite gold's 14.1% plunge in Q2'26, GDX only fell 17.8%, demonstrating incredibly resilient 1.3x downside leverage. This outperformance is also attributed to the miners' huge profits.

A table summarizing the operational and financial highlights from the GDX top 25 during Q2'26 reveals mixed results. While some gold miners struggled with declining production, others maintained stability or even experienced growth.