Goldcorp swings back to profit as output rises, costs fall

(Reuters) - Goldcorp Inc (Toronto:G.TO - News) returned to a profit in the first-quarter on the back of higher production and lower costs, the Canadian gold producer said on Wednesday.

Goldcorp, the world's third-biggest gold producer by market value, reported net earnings of $80 million, or 10 cents a share, in the three months to end-March. That compared with a net loss of $87 million, or 11 cents per share, a year earlier.

Analysts on average had expected the company to earn 4 cents a share, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

Goldcorp left unchanged the 2016 production and cost forecast made in February.

Production at Goldcorp, which has operations in Canada, the United States and Mexico, increased to 783,700 ounces in the first quarter compared to 724,800 ounces a year earlier.

All-in sustaining costs to produce an ounce of gold fell to $836 from $885.

(Reporting by Nicole Mordant in Vancouver; Editing by Chris Reese and Tom Brown)