Nevertheless, they cautioned, "The conclusion we arrive at is that, despite its strong portfolio of operating mines, the lack of growth in production and, more importantly, operating cash flow coupled with the massive debt burden will together conspire to hold the share price in check." "Undoubtedly, Barrick would benefit from a rise in the gold price, but relying on that to underpin our investment thesis is weak," said the analysts. "We believe the company will continue to seek a partnership with or investment by the Chinese and we favor the notion of a merger with Newmont and subsequent asset spin out as the best possible value creating catalyst available to the company today. Neither option, however, is easy to access, consequently neither have been incorporated into our value metrics." While the company has spun off US$1.5 billion in asset sales, Barrick has also cleaned up the balance sheet somewhat, but "none have made a material difference to our outlook," they said.