Monday, April 4, 2011

Hecla (HL) Still Waiting to Break Out in 2011

The market continues to shun Hecla Mining (NYSE:HL), even in the midst of a huge upward move in the price of silver, as the stock so far in 2011 is down over 19 percent.

Over the last couple of years the largest silver producer in the United States has generated revenue at a clip of over 62 percent in 2009 and another 34 percent in 2010. In 2010 the $419 million in revenue was record for the silver miner.

Gross margins also jumped from over 32 percent to 46 percent during that time.

The company carries no debt on its books and is the lowest-cost North American silver producer. Unfortunately for them, its GAAP EPS has dropped from $0.23 to $0.13.

Estimates for 2011 is for non-GAAP to come in at a range of $0.35 and $0.58. In 2010, non-GAAP EPS was $0.31. When they report on April 25, analysts are looking for a range of $0.10 to $0.16.

It's not like Hecla Mining has been a disaster over the last couple of years, as they've moved up well over 4 times during that period and made shareholders a lot of money. On April 1, 2009, they traded at $2.18 a share.

But the company has has been lagging since the early part of November, and is sure to break out even more once they catch fire again.

Hecla closed Friday at $9.00, dropping $0.08, or 0.88 percent.

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