For most investors, how much a stock's price changes over time is important. This factor can impact your investment portfolio as well as help you compare investment results across sectors and industries.
Another factor that can influence investors is FOMO, or the fear of missing out, especially with tech giants and popular consumer-facing stocks.
What if you'd invested in Southern Copper (SCCO) ten years ago? It may not have been easy to hold on to SCCO for all that time, but if you did, how much would your investment be worth today?
Southern Copper's Business In-Depth
With that in mind, let's take a look at Southern Copper's main business drivers.
Phoenix, AZ-based Southern Copper Corporation engages in mining, exploring, smelting, and refining copper and other minerals. The company conducts exploration activities in Argentina, Chile, Ecuador, Mexico and Peru.
Southern Copper has the largest copper reserves in the industry and operates high-quality, world-class assets in investment grade countries, such as Mexico and Peru.
Southern Copper reports results under three reportable segments. Each consist of a groups of mines with similar economic characteristics, type of products, processes and support facilities, regulatory environments as well as employee bargaining contracts.
Peruvian operations (around 36% of the company's revenues) includes the Toquepala and Cuajone mine complexes and the smelting and refining plants, industrial railroad and port facilities that service both mines. The Peruvian operations produce copper, with significant by-product production of molybdenum, silver and other materials.
Mexican Open-Pit (58% of revenues) includes La Caridad and Buenavista mine complexes, the smelting and refining plants and support facilities, which service both mines. The Mexican open pit operations produce copper, with significant by-product production of molybdenum, silver and other materials.
Mexican underground operations (6% of revenues) (IMMSA unit) includes five underground mines that produce zinc, lead, copper, silver and gold, a coal mine which produces coal and coke, and several industrial processing facilities for zinc, copper and silver.
The geographic breakdown of the company’s sales is as follows – Americas (50% of revenues), Europe (32%) and Asia (18%).
Approximately 80% of the company’s revenue come from the sale of copper, 6% from molybdenum and 10% from silver and zinc.
Bottom Line
Anyone can invest, but building a successful investment portfolio takes a combination of a few things: research, patience, and a little bit of risk. So, if you had invested in Southern Copper a decade ago, you're probably feeling pretty good about your investment today.
A $1000 investment made in July 2015 would be worth $3,618.40, or a gain of 261.84%, as of July 7, 2025, according to our calculations. This return excludes dividends but includes price appreciation.
Compare this to the S&P 500's rally of 202.36% and gold's return of 177.30% over the same time frame.
Going forward, analysts are expecting more upside for SCCO.
Southern Copper projects 2025 copper production at 968,200 tons, reflecting a slight 0.6% decline from last year. While rising copper prices this year are encouraging, the sustainability of this uptrend remains uncertain due to the contraction in manufacturing activity and weak demand in China. Labor costs, alongside inflationary pressure on repair and operating materials, are likely to weigh on near-term margins. Nonetheless, cost-control initiatives should help cushion the impact. Long-term copper demand remains strong, supported by U.S. infrastructure projects and the global shift toward clean energy. Backed by vast copper reserves and more than $15 billion in strategic investments this decade, Southern Copper is well-positioned for future growth. The company’s ongoing efforts to lower debt levels is also commendable.
Shares have gained 10.69% over the past four weeks and there have been 4 higher earnings estimate revisions for fiscal 2025 compared to none lower. The consensus estimate has moved up as well.
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Southern Copper Corporation (SCCO): Free Stock Analysis ReportThis article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).
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