Accelerating Silver Demand Will Fuel Keno Hill Production

Key Takeaways

• Rising silver demand from electrification trends and precious metal safe-haven appeal support Hecla's revenue growth, margin expansion, and pricing power.
  
• Operational efficiency, successful exploration, and disciplined production ramp-up drive cost reductions, strong cash flows, and long-term production stability.
  
• Rising costs, regulatory burdens, and operational challenges threaten cash flow, margins, and long-term growth, while planned deleveraging poses dilution and EPS risks.

Catalysts

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

• Hecla is poised to benefit from accelerating demand for silver driven by ongoing global electrification and renewable energy growth, as silver is critical for EVs and solar panels; this positions the company for potential top-line revenue expansion and greater leverage to rising silver prices.
  
• Elevated inflation and persistent macroeconomic uncertainty are fostering stronger investor demand for precious metals as safe havens, which can underpin higher realized silver prices and margin expansion for Hecla's silver-focused portfolio.
  
• The company's disciplined production ramp-up at Keno Hill-targeting a sustainable throughput of 440 tonnes per day by 2028, alongside proven high-return economics even at conservative silver price levels-sets the stage for steady long-term free cash flow and earnings growth as the mine achieves scale.
  
• Enhanced operational efficiency through automation, advanced analytics, and mine planning improvements at Greens Creek and Lucky Friday is expected to lower all-in sustaining costs (AISC), contributing to healthier net margins and stronger bottom-line performance as silver markets improve.
  
• Consistent reserve replacement and exploration success, demonstrated by long mine lives across anchor assets and new discoveries in Nevada, provide long-term production visibility and revenue stability, supporting a premium valuation as industry-wide supply tightens.

Hecla Mining Future Earnings and Revenue Growth

Assumptions

• Analysts are assuming Hecla Mining's revenue will decrease by 3.4% annually over the next 3 years.
• Analysts assume that profit margins will increase from 9.4% today to 22.0% in 3 years time.
• Analysts expect earnings to reach $210.3 million (and earnings per share of $0.3) by about September 2028, up from $99.7 million today. The analysts are largely in agreement about this estimate.
• In order for the above numbers to justify the analysts price target, the company would need to trade at a PE ratio of 38.1x on those 2028 earnings, down from 59.5x today. This future PE is greater than the current PE for the US Metals and Mining industry at 22.7x.
• Analysts expect the number of shares outstanding to grow by 5.26% per year for the next 3 years.
• To value all of this in today's terms, we will use a discount rate of 7.48%, as per the Simply Wall St company report.

Hecla Mining Future Earnings Per Share Growth

Risks

• Steadily increasing capital requirements for infrastructure expansion, permitting, and tailings management at Keno Hill-alongside the risk of permitting-related delays around 2028-could create sustained pressure on free cash flow and future production rates, jeopardizing long-term earnings growth.
  
• Declining ore grades and looming mine-life ends at assets like Casa Berardi introduce uncertainty in future output and may require higher operating costs and/or new investments to sustain production, potentially narrowing net margins in the medium-to-long term.
  
• Heavy concentration in North American jurisdictions, despite their relative stability, exposes Hecla to region-specific regulatory, environmental, and ESG standards, which are becoming increasingly stringent; this could drive up compliance and remediation costs and squeeze profitability.
  
• Planned deleveraging through asset sales and share issuances to reduce debt, while helpful for balance sheet strength, raises the risk of future shareholder dilution and could restrict earnings per share (EPS) growth if internal cash flows underperform or unexpected expenditures emerge.
  
• Significant medium-term investments in technology, automation, and mine development-required to reach normalized throughput and to offset labor shortages-may strain capital budgets and limit near-term free cash flow, especially if commodity prices soften or if operational execution falls short.

Valuation

• The analysts have a consensus price target of $8.361 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 $12.5, and the most bearish reporting a price target of just $6.5.
• In order for you to agree with the analyst's consensus, you'd need to believe that by 2028, revenues will be $954.2 million, earnings will come to $210.3 million, and it would be trading on a PE ratio of 38.1x, assuming you use a discount rate of 7.5%.
• Given the current share price of $8.98, the analyst price target of $8.36 is 7.4% lower. The relatively low difference between the current share price and the analyst consensus price target indicates that they believe on average, the company is fairly priced.
• 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.