Top Silver Stocks for Q4 2021

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).

Silver stocks, represented by the Global X Silver Miners ETF (SIL), have significantly underperformed the broader market over the past year. SIL has provided a total return of -16.4% over the past 12 months, far below the benchmark iShares Russell 1000 ETF's (IWB) total return of 34.3%. These market performance numbers and all statistics in the tables below are as of Sept. 14, 2021.

Here are the top three silver stocks with the best value, the fastest growth, and the most momentum.

Best Value Silver Stocks

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.

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• Fortuna Silver Mines Inc.: Fortuna Silver Mines is a Canada-based mining company focused on silver mining in Latin America and West Africa. The company operates silver, lead, zinc, and gold mines. For Q2 2021, Fortuna reported net income of $16.2 million, compared with net loss for the prior-year quarter, on sales that nearly tripled year-over-year (YOY) to record highs. These results were driven by higher gold and silver sales volumes and higher realized prices for all metals.
• 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.
• 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. Based in part on strong Q2 2021 earnings, Pan American Silver increased its quarterly dividend by 42.9% to $0.10 per common share. The dividend was paid on Sept. 3 to shareholders as of Aug. 23, 2021.

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 2,500% were excluded as outliers.

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• Pan American Silver Corp.: See above for company description.
• First Majestic Silver Corp.: Pan American Silver is a Canada-based primary silver producer that's engaged in the exploration, development, extraction, processing, refining, and reclamation of mineral properties. The company owns and operates silver mines located in Peru, Mexico, Argentina, and Bolivia. First Majestic reported net earnings of $15.6 million for Q2 2021, compared with a net loss for Q2 2020, on record quarterly revenues. 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.
• 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.

Silver Stocks with the Most Momentum

These are the silver stocks that had the highest total return over the past 12 months.

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• 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. On Sept. 9, the company announced that it had completed a feasibility study on its 100%-owned Terronera Project in Jalisco state, Mexico. The study suggests the feasibility of a high grade, silver-gold underground mining operation at Terronera producing an average of 3.3 million payable ounces of silver and nearly 33,000 ounces of gold over a 12-year mining life period.
• 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.
• First Majestic Silver Corp.: See above for company description.

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