The Globe and Mail reports in its Thursday, Oct. 25, edition that although RBC analyst Stephen Walker expects near-term share price performance for Barrick Gold ($13.11), he believes momentum is likely to slow in 2019 (all figures U.S.). The Globe's David Leeder writes that Mr. Walker continues to rate Barrick Gold "sector perform." Mr. Walker raised his share target to $16 from $14. Analysts on average target the shares at $13.96. Mr. Walker says in a note: "The merger would create the world's largest gold company, prior to non-core asset sales, with five of the global 'Tier One' (large-scale, low-cost) gold assets, and would make 'New Barrick' one of the lowest total cash cost senior gold producers. However, the merged portfolio would include Randgold assets in operationally/geopolitically riskier jurisdictions (percentage of our operating NAV including Acacia equity stake located in Africa would increase from 3 per cent to 21 per cent with the Randgold merger). We would expect the merged company to monetize a significant number of non-core assets, representing an estimated 1.1 Moz of annual production, and re-allocate this capital to higher-return projects, which could provide shareholders with value."