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Silver is valued both as an industrial metal and as a precious metal. It is used in jewelry, electronics, and photography. Many investors use it as a safe haven in times of economic turmoil and sometimes as a hedge against inflation. Silver mining companies are engaged in the acquisition, exploration, development, and production of mineral properties. These companies often mine for other metals and minerals besides silver, such as zinc, lead, copper, and gold. Silver is often a byproduct produced from mining these other metals. Some big names in the industry include Wheaton Precious Metals Corp. (WPM), Hecla Mining Co. (HL), and SSR Mining Inc. (SSRM). After experiencing a lot of volatility in the first quarter of the year, silver mining stocks and silver commodity prices have trended upward throughout the second quarter.
Silver stocks, represented by the Global X Silver Miners ETF (SIL), have performed relatively on par with the broader market over the past year. SIL has provided a total return of 37.5% over the past 12 months, in line with the Russell 1000‘s total return of 37.2%. These market performance numbers and all statistics in the tables below are as of June 10, 2021.
Here are the top three silver stocks with the best value, the fastest growth, and the most momentum.
These are the silver stocks with the lowest 12-month trailing price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio. Because profits can be returned to shareholders in the form of dividends and buybacks, a low P/E ratio shows you’re paying less for each dollar of profit generated.
Source: YCharts
- Silvercorp Metals Inc.: Silvercorp Metals is a Canada-based mining company that acquires, explores, and develops mineral properties in China. The company produces silver, lead, and zinc metals. Silvercorp Metals announced in May financial results for its 2021 fiscal year (FY), which ended March 31, 2021. Net income rose 35.3% on revenue growth of 21.0%. Financial results were positively impacted by increased sales and prices of silver, gold, and zinc.
- Fortuna Silver Mines Inc.: Fortuna Silver Mines is a Canada-based mining company focused on silver mining in Latin America. The company operates silver, lead, zinc, and gold mines. Fortuna announced in late April that it had reached an agreement to acquire Roxgold Inc. (ROXG.TO), a Canada-based exploration and development company. The combination aims to create a low-cost global precious metals producer. According to the terms of the agreement, Fortuna will purchase all the issued and outstanding shares of Roxgold. The implied value of the transaction is estimated at approximately CA$1.1 billion ($0.9 billion). It is expected to close by late June or early July 2021.
- Pan American Silver Corp.: Pan American Silver is a Canada-based mining company focused on the production of silver, gold, zinc, lead, and copper. The company’s mining activities include exploration, extraction, processing, refining, and reclamation.
These are the top silver stocks as ranked by a growth model that scores companies based on a 50/50 weighting of their most recent quarterly YOY percentage revenue growth and their most recent quarterly YOY earnings-per-share (EPS) growth. Both sales and earnings are critical factors in the success of a company. Therefore ranking companies by only one growth metric makes a ranking susceptible to the accounting anomalies of that quarter (such as changes in tax law or restructuring costs) that may make one or the other figure unrepresentative of the business in general. Companies with quarterly EPS or revenue growth of over 2,500% were excluded as outliers.
| Fastest Growing Silver Stocks | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Price ($) | Market Cap ($B) | EPS Growth (%) | Revenue Growth (%) | |
| Fortuna Silver Mines Inc. (FVI.TO) | CA$8.27 | CA$1.5 | N/A (see company description) | 133.8 |
| Silvercorp Metals Inc. (SVM.TO) | CA$7.80 | CA$1.4 | 88.7 | 78.8 |
| Endeavour Silver Corp. ( EXK) |
7.49 | 1.3 | N/A (see company description) | 57.2 |
Source: YCharts
- Fortuna Silver Mines Inc.: See above for company description. Because the company’s earnings went from negative in the year-ago quarter to positive in the most recent quarter we cannot calculate an EPS growth rate for the table above.
- Silvercorp Metals Inc.: See above for company description.
- Endeavour Silver Corp.: Endeavour Silver is a Canada-based mining company focused on silver properties in Mexico. It engages in property acquisition, exploration, development, mineral extraction, processing, refining, and reclamation. Because the company’s earnings went from negative in the year-ago quarter to positive in the most recent quarter we cannot calculate an EPS growth rate for the table above.
These are the silver stocks that had the highest total return over the past 12 months.
| Silver Stocks with the Most Momentum | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Price ($) | Market Cap ($B) | 12-Month Trailing Total Return (%) | |
| Endeavour Silver Corp. (EXK) | 7.49 | 1.3 | 255.0 |
| Discovery Silver Corp. ( DSV.V) |
CA$2.61 | CA$0.8 | 210.7 |
| MAG Silver Corp. ( MAG.TO) |
CA$28.61 | CA$2.7 | 64.4 |
| Russell 1000 | N/A | N/A | 37.2 |
| Global X Silver Miners ETF (SIL) | N/A | N/A | 37.5 |
Source: YCharts
- Endeavour Silver Corp.: See above for company description.
- Discovery Silver Corp.: Discovery Silver is a Canada-based exploration and development company focused on silver projects in Mexico. The company announced in late May financial results for Q1 FY 2021, which ended March 31, 2021. Its net loss widened to CA$11.0 million ($9.0 million) from CA$4.8 million ($3.9 million) in the year-ago quarter. The company indicated in its financial statements that it had no sources of revenue to fund its operating expenditures as of March 31, 2021. It has relied solely on private placements to fund operations since its inception, and may require additional financing to accomplish its long-term strategic objectives.
- MAG Silver Corp.: MAG Silver is a Canada-based mineral exploration and development company. Its focus is on the acquisition, exploration, and development of silver projects in Mexico. The company announced in mid-May financial results for Q1 FY 2021, which ended March 31, 2021. MAG Silver’s net loss for the period narrowed to $3.7 million from $14.9 million in the year-ago quarter. The company generated net sales from its Fresnillo processing plant of $10.1 million for the quarter. There are no comparable revenue results in the year-ago quarter because underground mine production of development material only began in August 2020.
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