Record Gold Prices And Acquisitions Will Unlock Future Markets

Key Takeaways

• Record gold prices, rising demand, and strategic acquisitions are expanding margins, diversifying assets, and strengthening Franco-Nevada's revenue growth and cash flow stability.
  
• Conservative financial management and strong cash generation enable the company to capitalize on market opportunities, supporting long-term growth and compounding returns.
  
• Dependence on gold prices and concentrated assets, increased buyback provisions, rising competition, and regulatory hurdles all threaten Franco-Nevada's revenue growth and margin stability.

Catalysts

Operates as a royalty and stream company focused on precious metals in South America, Central America, Mexico, the United States, Canada, Australia, Europe, and internationally.

• Robust, record-level gold prices combined with ongoing global inflation concerns and monetary debasement are driving record royalty revenues and expanding margins for Franco-Nevada. This strengthens top-line revenue growth and leads to higher operating and net margins.
  
• Heightened geopolitical instability and a shift toward gold as a safe-haven asset are supporting continued high demand for gold, enhancing royalty cash flows and improving the sustainability of revenue and earnings growth.
  
• Accelerating development and potential earlier-than-expected production from large-scale growth projects such as Cascabel, Castle Mountain, and possibly New Prosperity, broadens the near
• and medium-term revenue pipeline and provides potential upside to future guidance and earnings.
  
• Recent and ongoing acquisitions of high-quality, long-life assets (e.g., Cote Gold, Arthur/AngloGold's Nevada projects, Yanacocha, Western Limb) have substantially diversified the portfolio, decreasing operational risk and underpinning a stronger, more stable growth trajectory for revenues and cash flow.
  
• The company's strong balance sheet, high cash flow generation, and conservative financial management position it to capitalize on market dislocations and seize attractive, distressed or strategic royalty/streaming deals, enabling compounding returns and supporting higher net margins over time.

Franco-Nevada Future Earnings and Revenue Growth

Assumptions

• Analysts are assuming Franco-Nevada's revenue will grow by 7.1% annually over the next 3 years.
• Analysts assume that profit margins will increase from 59.4% today to 60.8% in 3 years time.
• Analysts expect earnings to reach $987.3 million (and earnings per share of $5.11) by about August 2028, up from $785.0 million today. However, there is some disagreement amongst the analysts with the more bullish ones expecting earnings as high as $1.3 billion.
• In order for the above numbers to justify the analysts price target, the company would need to trade at a PE ratio of 46.7x on those 2028 earnings, up from 43.5x today. This future PE is greater than the current PE for the US Metals and Mining industry at 18.1x.
• Analysts expect the number of shares outstanding to grow by 0.14% per year for the next 3 years.
• To value all of this in today's terms, we will use a discount rate of 6.45%, as per the Simply Wall St company report.

Franco-Nevada Future Earnings Per Share Growth

Risks

• Franco-Nevada's earnings and revenue remain heavily dependent on high gold prices, exposing the company to significant downside risk if long-term gold demand falls due to global decarbonization, a shift in investor preference, or higher real interest rates that reduce gold's appeal as a non-yielding asset.
  
• Portfolio concentration risk persists, as major contributor assets-such as Candelaria (15% of Q2 revenue) and Cobre Panama-represent disproportionately large portions of revenue; any operational interruption, political action, or regulatory setback on these assets could cause significant earnings volatility.
  
• Increased buyback provisions on key new royalties (e.g., Cote, Porcupine) enable operators to repurchase portions of the royalty at their discretion, potentially reducing Franco-Nevada's share of future revenue and compressing long-term net margins.
  
• The competitive landscape for attractive, high-quality royalty and streaming deals is intensifying, raising acquisition costs and possibly forcing Franco-Nevada to accept lower-return deals, which may adversely affect future revenue growth and net margin expansion.
  
• Long permitting timelines, ongoing regulatory and ESG scrutiny (as seen in BC with New Prosperity and general permitting challenges in the US), and greater involvement of local stakeholders threaten to delay or block mine developments, limiting the timely realization of revenue from Franco-Nevada's pipeline of development-stage assets.

Valuation

• The analysts have a consensus price target of CA$273.396 for Franco-Nevada based on their expectations of its future earnings growth, profit margins and other risk factors. However, there is a degree of disagreement amongst analysts, with the most bullish reporting a price target of CA$315.14, and the most bearish reporting a price target of just CA$255.84.
  
• In order for you to agree with the analyst's consensus, you'd need to believe that by 2028, revenues will be $1.6 billion, earnings will come to $987.3 million, and it would be trading on a PE ratio of 46.7x, assuming you use a discount rate of 6.4%.
  
• Given the current share price of CA$244.93, the analyst price target of CA$273.4 is 10.4% higher.
  
• We always encourage you to reach your own conclusions though. So sense check these analyst numbers against your own assumptions and expectations based on your understanding of the business and what you believe is probable.