US High-Grade Silver Assets Will Capitalize On Solar And Electrification

Key Takeaways

• Strategic investment in high-grade U.S. silver assets and operational improvements position Hecla to benefit from rising, long-term silver demand and enhanced profitability.
  
• Strong balance sheet, disciplined capital allocation, and industry-leading ESG profile enable future growth opportunities, lower risk, and sustained multi-year revenue expansion.
  
• Technical, permitting, and cost challenges across key assets create risk to future growth, margin expansion, and financial flexibility, especially if operational or market conditions worsen.

Catalysts

Provides precious and base metal properties in the United States, Canada, Japan, Korea, and China.

• Growing investment and development in high-grade U.S. silver assets (i.e., Keno Hill, Nevada portfolio, and ongoing expansions at Lucky Friday and Greens Creek) positions Hecla to capitalize on the rising, structural demand for silver driven by electrification, solar, and battery markets. This supports higher long-term revenue and margin potential as volumes and grades improve.
  
• Hecla's demonstrated operational discipline, continuous improvement initiatives (automation, analytics, proactive maintenance, and standardized systems), and emphasis on cost control are likely to drive further efficiency gains and margin expansion, especially as scale increases and digitization spreads across sites-positively impacting net margins and long-term earnings.
  
• Strengthened balance sheet through deleveraging, robust free cash flows from core assets, and disciplined capital allocation empowers Hecla to further reduce debt, lower interest burden, and enable higher growth investments or opportunistic M&A, which supports future earnings resilience and net income expansion.
  
• Advancement of the Libby project, now prioritized via the FAST-41 federal permitting process, along with aggressive exploration efforts in Nevada and at Keno Hill, create a medium
• to long-term pipeline of potential high-value production sources in mining-friendly regions-enhancing reserve life and supporting multi-year revenue growth.
  
• Leading ESG credentials, North American asset base, and strong partnerships with local communities and First Nations increasingly position Hecla as a "preferred operator," benefiting from access to capital, a broader investor base, and lower regulatory/political risk, all of which can contribute to a more stable and potentially lower cost structure, supporting margins and valuation.

Hecla Mining Future Earnings and Revenue Growth

Assumptions

• Analysts are assuming Hecla Mining's revenue will decrease by 5.3% annually over the next 3 years.
• Analysts assume that profit margins will increase from 7.0% today to 19.3% in 3 years time.
• Analysts expect earnings to reach $164.2 million (and earnings per share of $0.27) by about May 2028, up from $69.9 million today. However, there is a considerable amount of disagreement amongst the analysts with the most bullish expecting $238.8 million in earnings, and the most bearish expecting $127.7 million.
• In order for the above numbers to justify the analysts price target, the company would need to trade at a PE ratio of 33.2x on those 2028 earnings, down from 45.5x today. This future PE is greater than the current PE for the US Metals and Mining industry at 20.1x.
• Analysts expect the number of shares outstanding to grow by 0.46% per year for the next 3 years.
• To value all of this in today's terms, we will use a discount rate of 7.27%, as per the Simply Wall St company report.

Hecla Mining Future Earnings Per Share Growth

Risks

• Keno Hill's long-term profitability and production scalability remain uncertain due to technical challenges, time-sensitive permitting bottlenecks, the need for significant and ongoing infrastructure capital, and dependence on successful community/government engagement, creating risk to both future revenues and margin expansion if ramp-up or permitting is delayed.
  
• Casa Berardi's strategic uncertainty and a likely "permitting hiatus" (potentially 5 years) result in discounted future cash flow and possible asset value impairment, with no clear timeline for value realization or clarity on outcome (sale, JV, or operational turnaround), which could restrict near
• to mid-term earnings and reduce financial flexibility.
  
• Rising labor costs, persistent profit-sharing and high contractor reliance at Lucky Friday (a key cash flow contributor) risk elevated all-in sustaining costs and margin compression, especially if commodity prices retreat or cost-control initiatives fail to significantly reduce labor overhead, impacting future net margins and earnings predictability.
  
• Hecla's capital allocation will require a delicate balance between deleveraging, required capital investment for mine ramp-ups (especially at Keno Hill and future Nevada projects), and underfunded exploration ambitions-potentially straining available free cash flow and exposing the company to increased balance sheet risk and slower growth if metal prices or operations disappoint.
  
• Exposure to future tariffs, shifting international concentrate markets (especially due to potential U.S. government export taxes or changing Chinese demand), and evolving regulatory regimes present risks to concentrate placement, cost of sales, and revenue reliability, amplifying volatility in realized prices and gross earnings over the long term.

Valuation

• The analysts have a consensus price target of $7.0 for Hecla Mining 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 $11.5, and the most bearish reporting a price target of just $5.0.
  
• In order for you to agree with the analyst's consensus, you'd need to believe that by 2028, revenues will be $849.9 million, earnings will come to $164.2 million, and it would be trading on a PE ratio of 33.2x, assuming you use a discount rate of 7.3%.
  
• Given the current share price of $5.1, the analyst price target of $7.0 is 27.1% 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.