What happened Shares of Eldorado Gold (NYSE: EGO) took off today, jumping as much as 9.4% as of 1:50 p.m. EDT. The market is clearly impressed with the gold stock's preliminary third-quarter numbers and expects it to upgrade its full-year guidance on Oct. 28. So what Eldorado Gold announced an 8% year-over-year jump in its gold production to 125,459 ounces for the third quarter, with production from its largest mine, Kisladag in Turkey, rising 16% and exceeding the company's forecast. Today, National Bank also raised its price target on Eldorado Gold to 18 Canadian dollars per share from CA$17.50 a share. Image source: Getty Images. Thanks to strong production in the nine months through September, Eldorado Gold said it is reviewing its previous full-year production guidance and will provide an update during its earnings release later this month. For perspective, Eldorado Gold's gold production through nine months declined 9.6% to 353,268 ounces. The gold miner expected an even bigger drop, but stronger production from Kisladag in the third quarter thanks to operational improvements now means Eldorado Gold will likely be able to produce more gold this year than the 430,000 ounces to 460,000 ounces it projected earlier. That's got the market excited and investors are bidding the gold stock higher today. Now what Exceeding production guidance is welcome, but investors in Eldorado Gold may want to pay greater attention to the progress in mines that Eldorado Gold was upbeat about when it stepped into 2021 -- the Skouries project in Kassandra mines, Greece, for example. Earlier in the year, management stated, "Our focus in 2021 is on unlocking the compelling value at Skouries and throughout our portfolio." However, the company hasn't restarted the mine yet and is perhaps awaiting more approvals; management hasn't said anything about it yet. That's something investors may want to watch out for in the gold stock's upcoming earnings report. 10 stocks we like better than Eldorado GoldWhen our award-winning analyst team has a stock tip, it can pay to listen. After all, the newsletter they have run for over a decade, Motley Fool Stock Advisor, has tripled the market.* They just revealed what they believe are the ten best stocks for investors to buy right now... and Eldorado Gold wasn't one of them! That's right -- they think these 10 stocks are even better buys. See the 10 stocks *Stock Advisor returns as of September 17, 2021 Neha Chamaria has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.Source