Top Silver Stocks for Q2 2023

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 a volatile year, silver futures have nearly recovered to levels last seen in April 2022. Though silver stocks, represented by the Global X Silver Miners ETF (SIL), have underperformed the broader market over the past year. SIL has returned -17% over the past 12 months, well below the benchmark Russell 1000's total return of -8%.

Here are the top three silver stocks with the best value, the fastest growth, and the best performance. All data are as of April 10.

Best Value Silver Stocks

These are the silver stocks with the lowest 12-month trailing price-to-sales (P/S) ratio. For companies in the early stages of development or industries suffering from major shocks, this can be substituted as a rough measure of a business's value. A business with higher sales eventually could produce more profit when it either achieves or returns to profitability. The P/S ratio shows how much you're paying for the stock for each dollar of sales generated.

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• Santacruz Silver Mining Ltd.: Santacruz Silver is a Canadian company that acquires and explores mineral properties in Mexico and Bolivia. Over the last year, the company has appointed Wayne Corso as COO and Gregg Orr as CFO. On Jan. 26, Santacruz Silver released its fourth-quarter production results, with silver production increasing by 464% compared to the prior-year quarter. Santacruz Silver also trades over-the-counter (OTC) in the U.S. under the ticker SZSMF.
• Andean Precious Metals Corp.: Andean Precious Metals is a silver mining company located in Canada with operations in South America.
• First Majestic Silver Corp.: First Majestic Silver is a Canada-based silver and gold producer that is engaged in the exploration and development of mineral properties in the U.S. and Mexico. The company recently announced the renewal of its share repurchase program with the ability to repurchase up to 5 million shares —or close to 2% of all outstanding shares—over the next 12 months. On March 30, the company sold a 100% stake in its La Guitarra Mine near Mexico City to Sierra Madre Gold & Silver Ltd. for 69 million shares of Sierra Madre's common stock valued at $35 million.

Fastest Growing Silver Stocks

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 1,000% were excluded as outliers.

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• Santacruz Silver Mining Ltd.: See company description. Note Santacruz Silver doesn't have an EPS growth figure in the table above because the company reported negative EPS in the most recent quarter.
• Aya Gold & Silver Inc.: Aya Gold & Silver is a Canada-based mining company targeting properties in Morocco. It explores, develops, produces, and acquires precious metals mining projects. Aya also trades over-the-counter (OTC) in the U.S. under the ticker AYASF. The company announced on Sept. 12 that it had made a $6.5 million deal with Morocco's National Office of Hydrocarbons and Mines to take full ownership of the Zgounder mining project. On March 29, the company released fourth-quarter earnings and operational results, with its production of silver increasing by 53% compared to Q4 2021, partly due to its taking full ownership of the Zgounder mine. Note Aya doesn't have an EPS growth figure in the table above because the company reported negative EPS in the most recent quarter.
• 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. On Aug. 24, Silvercorp announced the launch of a share repurchase program expiring Aug. 28, 2023. Through this program, the company is authorized to buy back up to more than 7.1 million common shares.

Silver Stocks with the Most Momentum

These are the silver stocks that had the best returns or smallest declines in total return over the past 12 months out of the companies we looked at.

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• Dolly Varden Silver Corp.: Dolly Varden acquires, develops, and explores mineral properties for various precious metals such as gold, silver, zinc, and copper, with its primary property being the Kitsault Valley Project located in British Columbia, Canada. The company is owned primarily by individual investors at around 41%, with public companies only making up 37%. As a result, the general public may influence how the company is run more than similar stocks.
• Aya Gold & Silver Inc.: See company description.
• Silvercorp Metals Inc.: See company description.

Trends in Silver Stocks

Silver has a wide variety of applications in many industries. It is a key material used in electrical components for computers, phones, and automobiles. Perhaps even more important for investors is the crucial role that silver plays in the renewable energy industry. Silver is an important component of photovoltaic technology such as solar cells because of its conductive properties. Solar photovoltaic energy generation continues to grow at a rapid pace. This suggests that silver will continue to be in high demand as demand for solar energy products increases.

Risks of Silver Stocks

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.

But the market for silver is smaller than the market for gold, and consequently it tends to experience higher levels of volatility, which may impact the stock prices of silver mining companies. Another risk to investors is that there aren't many pure-play silver miners in the mining industry. Rather, silver is often one of several different minerals mined by a single company. This means that mining company stocks may be impacted by factors related to materials other than silver. Investors should focus on the role that silver mining plays in a company's operations before allocating their funds.