Leading gold producer Newcrest Mining (ASX: NCM) reports its profit for the June year today and there will be no surprise if it weighs in with a result that tops the $1 billion mark. Broker forecasts for the group's full-year result range from a low of $892 million to $1.21 billion, with a median forecast of $1.05 billion. It is the sort of stuff you would expect for a group drawing the benefits of bumper gold prices on annual production of 2.7 million ounces of the yellow stuff.

But all that hasn't amounted to much in terms of Newcrest's share price performance. The group's share price is pretty much where it started (calendar) 2011, notwithstanding the 26 per cent rise in gold prices in the same period.

Newcrest is not alone in having its share price disconnect with the rapid rise in gold prices. It's as if equity investors are treating gold stocks like any other class in periods of market turmoil, notwithstanding their leverage to higher metal prices. Read More