SCCO · Materials(metal mining) · 10 years of annual accounts filed with the SEC · latest fiscal year ended 2025-12-31
Southern Copper CORP/ reported revenue of $13.4 billion in fiscal 2025, after growing 10.7% a year over the previous 9 years. Its operating margin widened from 29.1% in 2016 to 52.2%, and it earned 25.0% on its invested capital in the latest year. Of the $29.7 billion its operations generated over 10 years, 55.5% went to dividends and 32.9% back into the business. On the accounting screens, it passes 7 of 9 Piotroski tests, its Altman Z'' of 6.11 is in the safe zone and its Beneish M-score is below the -1.78 line; 1 of the six cross-checks between its statements fires.
Revenue, fiscal 202513.4B+10.7% a year over 9 years
Operating margin52.2%gross margin 60.1%
Return on invested capital25.0%22.1% on average over 5 years
Free cash flow3.4B25.5% of revenue
Net debt ÷ EBITDA0.3×net debt 2.4B
Piotroski F-score7/9tests of improvement passed
Is it growing?
Revenue and the operating income it turns into. Growth that does not reach operating income is growth bought with margin.
RevenueOperating income
05.0B10.0B15.0B
2016Revenue 5.4BOperating income 1.6B
2017Revenue 6.7BOperating income 2.6B
2018Revenue 7.1BOperating income 2.9B
2019Revenue 7.3BOperating income 2.8B
2020Revenue 8.0BOperating income 3.1B
2021Revenue 10.9BOperating income 6.1B
2022Revenue 10.0BOperating income 4.4B
2023Revenue 9.9BOperating income 4.2B
2024Revenue 11.4BOperating income 5.6B
2025Revenue 13.4BOperating income 7.0B
2016201720182019202020212022202320242025
Compound growth a year
3 yrs
5 yrs
9 yrs
Revenue
+10.1%
+10.9%
+10.7%
Operating income
+16.4%
+17.5%
+18.1%
Net income
+18.0%
+22.5%
+21.1%
Earnings per share
+15.4%
+20.8%
—
Free cash flow per share
+20.0%
+7.9%
—
Dividend per share
-4.9%
+14.9%
—
Shares
+2.3%
+1.3%
—
Falling shares are buybacks: each remaining share owns more of the company.
Does it earn more than its capital costs?
Margins say how much of each sale is kept; return on invested capital says how much the business earns on the money it needs to operate. Growth only creates value when that return is above the cost of the capital.
Return on invested capitalCost of capital today · 8.0%
0.0%10.0%20.0%30.0%
2016Return on invested capital 8.0%
2017Return on invested capital 6.7%
2018Return on invested capital 13.6%
2019Return on invested capital 12.2%
2020Return on invested capital 13.0%
2021Return on invested capital 24.6%
2022Return on invested capital 19.3%
2023Return on invested capital 18.9%
2024Return on invested capital 22.7%
2025Return on invested capital 25.0%
2016201720182019202020212022202320242025
Economic profit
Economic profit
-1.0B01.0B2.0B3.0B4.0B
2016Economic profit 1.4M
2017Economic profit -154.2M
2018Economic profit 711.2M
2019Economic profit 585.3M
2020Economic profit 689.3M
2021Economic profit 2.4B
2022Economic profit 1.6B
2023Economic profit 1.5B
2024Economic profit 2.3B
2025Economic profit 3.0B
2016201720182019202020212022202320242025
(return on capital − cost of capital) × capital invested: the profit left after paying for the money used. Today's cost of capital is applied to every year, since a past one cannot be rebuilt honestly.
Return on equity
39.4%
Return on assets
20.3%
Asset turnover
0.63×
Overheads (SG&A)
1.0% of revenue
Is the profit cash, and where does the cash go?
Net income is an accounting opinion; free cash flow is what was left in the bank after investing. Stock-based pay does not leave the bank — shareholders pay it through dilution — so it is shown taken off as well.
Net incomeFree cash flowAfter stock-based pay
-2.0B02.0B4.0B6.0B
2016Net income 778.8MFree cash flow -195.4M
2017Net income 732.4MFree cash flow 953.1M
2018Net income 1.5BFree cash flow 1.1B
2019Net income 1.5BFree cash flow 1.2B
2020Net income 1.6BFree cash flow 2.2B
2021Net income 3.4BFree cash flow 3.4B
2022Net income 2.6BFree cash flow 1.9B
2023Net income 2.4BFree cash flow 2.6B
2024Net income 3.4BFree cash flow 3.4B
2025Net income 4.3BFree cash flow 3.4B
2016201720182019202020212022202320242025
Where 10 years of operating cash went, 2016–2025
29.7B generated by the business. Each band is its share of that total.
Reinvested in the business 33%9.8B
Acquisitions 0%0
Dividends 56%16.5B
Share buybacks 0%71.7M
Kept, or used to pay down debt 11%3.4B
Per share
Earnings per shareFree cash flow per shareDividend per share
$0.00$2.00$4.00$6.00
2016
2017
2018
2019Earnings per share $1.93Free cash flow per share $1.56Dividend per share $1.60
2020Earnings per share $2.04Free cash flow per share $2.83Dividend per share $1.50
2021Earnings per share $4.41Free cash flow per share $4.40Dividend per share $3.20
2022Earnings per share $3.43Free cash flow per share $2.40Dividend per share $3.50
2023Earnings per share $3.06Free cash flow per share $3.22Dividend per share $3.89
2024Earnings per share $4.22Free cash flow per share $4.23Dividend per share $2.04
2025Earnings per share $5.26Free cash flow per share $4.15Dividend per share $3.01
2016201720182019202020212022202320242025
Shares outstanding
Diluted shares
760.0M780.0M800.0M820.0M840.0M
2016
2017
2018
2019Diluted shares 773.1M
2020Diluted shares 773.1M
2021Diluted shares 773.1M
2022Diluted shares 773.1M
2023Diluted shares 795.3M
2024Diluted shares 802.9M
2025Diluted shares 826.6M
2016201720182019202020212022202320242025
How strong is the balance sheet?
Debt is not bad in itself; debt the business cannot service in a bad year is. Net debt is debt minus cash, and below zero the company holds more cash than it owes.
Net debt
02.0B4.0B6.0B
2016Net debt 5.4B
2017Net debt 5.0B
2018Net debt 5.1B
2019Net debt 5.0B
2020Net debt 4.4B
2021Net debt 3.5B
2022Net debt 4.2B
2023Net debt 5.1B
2024Net debt 3.0B
2025Net debt 2.4B
2016201720182019202020212022202320242025
Net debt ÷ EBITDA
0.3×
Interest coverage
— operating income ÷ interest
Current ratio
3.89 current assets ÷ current liabilities
Cash conversion cycle
66 days collects in 53d, stock 72d, pays in 59d
Three classic screens of the accounts
Each asks a different question of the same statements — is it improving, does it look like a company heading for distress, do the accounts resemble ones that were manipulated. None is a verdict; each shows what moves it.
Piotroski F-score
Is the business improving? Nine yes-or-no tests, this year against last.
7of 9 tests passed
✓ProfitableReturn on assets above zeropassed
✓Cash from operationsOperating cash flow above zeropassed
✓Profitability improvedReturn on assets higher than a year beforepassed
✓Profit backed by cashOperating cash flow above net income (low accruals)passed
✕Less long-term debtLong-term debt as a share of assets fellfailed
✓More liquidCurrent ratio higher than a year beforepassed
✕No new sharesShare count did not growfailed
✓Better gross marginGross margin higher than a year beforepassed
✓Sells more per assetAsset turnover higher than a year beforepassed
Where it misleads: it measures change, not level. An excellent business that stood still for a year scores low; a poor one recovering from a disaster scores high.
Altman Z''-score
Does the balance sheet look like those of companies that went bankrupt?
6.11safe zone
1.12.6
Working capital ÷ assets 0.29 × 6.56+1.90
Retained earnings ÷ assets 0.27 × 3.26+0.88
Operating income ÷ assets 0.33 × 6.72+2.20
Equity ÷ liabilities 1.07 × 1.05+1.12
Where it misleads: buybacks. A company that returns so much cash that its equity turns small or negative sinks the last two ratios without being anywhere near bankruptcy. Banks and insurers do not fit the model at all.
Beneish M-score
Do the accounts resemble those of companies that manipulated their earnings?
-2.08below the -1.78 line
-1.78
Receivables vs sales 1.40+1.29
Gross margin slipping 0.96+0.51
Soft assets 0.91+0.37
Sales growth 1.17+1.05
Slower depreciation 1.01+0.12
Overheads vs sales 0.90-0.15
Profit not in cash -0.02-0.09
Leverage rising 0.97-0.32
Where it misleads: fast growth and acquisitions. Sales growth carries a heavy weight, so a company growing 50% a year scores like a suspect without having done anything. It is a screen from a 1999 study, not an accusation.
Where the statements disagree
Cross-checks between the income statement, the balance sheet and the cash flow for the latest year, each with the benign reading and the worrying one.
Receivables are growing 64% against revenue growing 17%.
Benign
A shift towards larger customers on longer terms, or sales concentrated at the end of the period.
Worrying
Sales are being made on looser credit, or revenue has been booked that may never be collected.
What is it worth, under which assumptions?
A company is worth the cash it will generate, brought back to today. This model projects revenue with growth that fades over the years, applies a free cash flow margin, and discounts the result at the cost of capital. Every assumption says where it came from, and all of them can be changed.
Value per share, with these assumptions$113.89discounted at 8.0% a year · 62% of it from after year 10
Type a share price on the left to ask the reverse questions: what growth, what margin or what discount rate that price implies.
What the value implies, in the usual multiples
At this model's value
Price ÷ earnings
21.7×
Enterprise value ÷ EBITDA
12.3×
Enterprise value ÷ revenue
7.2×
Free cash flow yield
3.6%
From cash flows to a value per share
10 years of cash flow, today36.4B
Everything after, today60.2B
The whole business96.6B
Minus net debt-2.4B
What belongs to shareholders94.1B
Divided among 826.6M shares: <strong>$113.89</strong> each.
The projection next to its history
Reported free cash flow after stock pay, then the model's. A projection that looks nothing like the past needs a reason.
ReportedProjected
-2.0B02.0B4.0B6.0B8.0B
2016Reported -195.4M
2017Reported 953.1M
2018Reported 1.1B
2019Reported 1.2B
2020Reported 2.2B
2021Reported 3.4B
2022Reported 1.9B
2023Reported 2.6B
2024Reported 3.4B
2025Reported 3.4B
2026Projected 4.0B
2027Projected 4.4B
2028Projected 4.8B
2029Projected 5.2B
2030Projected 5.6B
2031Projected 5.9B
2032Projected 6.2B
2033Projected 6.5B
2034Projected 6.7B
2035Projected 6.9B
2016201820202022202420262028203020322034
Year by year
2026
2027
2028
2029
2030
2031
2032
2033
2034
2035
Revenue
14.9B
16.4B
17.9B
19.3B
20.7B
22.0B
23.2B
24.2B
25.1B
25.7B
Growth
11.0%
10.1%
9.1%
8.2%
7.2%
6.3%
5.3%
4.4%
3.4%
2.5%
Cash margin
26.9%
26.9%
26.9%
26.9%
26.9%
26.9%
26.9%
26.9%
26.9%
26.9%
Free cash flow
4.0B
4.4B
4.8B
5.2B
5.6B
5.9B
6.2B
6.5B
6.7B
6.9B
Worth today
3.7B
3.8B
3.8B
3.8B
3.8B
3.7B
3.6B
3.5B
3.4B
3.2B
If the least-known inputs move
Value per share as two inputs change at a time. Neighbouring cells that differ a lot are the conclusion: the value depends on numbers nobody knows to a point.
The discount rate and growth forever
discount ↓ · forever →
1.5%
2.0%
2.5%
3.0%
3.5%
7.0%
118
129
141
157
178
7.5%
108
116
126
139
154
8.0%
98
106
114
124
136
8.5%
91
97
104
112
122
9.0%
84
89
95
102
110
Year-one growth and the final margin
margin ↓ · growth →
7.0%
9.0%
11.0%
13.0%
15.0%
21.5%
80
87
95
103
112
24.2%
88
96
104
113
123
26.9%
96
105
114
124
135
29.5%
104
113
124
134
146
32.2%
112
122
133
145
158
All the inputs moving at once
5,000 valuations, each with growth, final margin, discount rate and growth forever drawn at random around the values on the left (spreads of 3.0%, 4.0%, 1.0% and 0.5%). Not a probability — the spreads are assumptions too — but an honest picture of how wide the answer is.
10th percentile$82.08
Median$113.93
90th percentile$167.61
$100.00$150.00$200.00$250.00
Half of the simulations land between <b>$95.51</b> and <b>$138.31</b>; one in ten below $82.08, one in ten above $167.61.
Does the long run make sense?
8.6×The terminal value prices the business in year 10 at 8.6 times that year's EBITDA.
12%To grow 2.5% forever while reinvesting 21% of its after-tax operating profit, the business must earn 12% on the new capital — it has earned 22% on average over the last five years.
62%of the value comes from after year 10. The more of it, the more the answer depends on the part nobody can see.
Accounts from the company's own SEC filings; lines some companies do not report are shown as a dash rather than estimated. The risk-free rate is the 10-year US Treasury yield. A DCF is a way of making assumptions explicit, not a forecast: it states what the company would be worth if the assumptions held. The scores are screens that point where to look, not verdicts. Nothing here is a recommendation to buy or sell.