Daily Brief Energy/Materials: Pan American Silver, Wheaton Precious Metals and more

Pan American’s Q3 results did not bring any major surprises at the group level, with lower EBITDA of US$159m, down 22% q-o-q, mainly a result of the continuing underperformance of La Colorada and lower-than-expected gold grades at El Penon. Yet the company reported flat (quarter-on-quarter) net operating cash flow of US$115m and broadly reiterated its FY23 operating guidance. We have revised downwards our near-term earnings estimates on the back of the results. However, our valuation has increased from US$22.0/share to US$22.7 due to updated longer-term gold price expectations. Although the shares have reacted negatively to the results, we expect a stronger Q4, while the commodity prices remain supportive against the backdrop of higher geopolitical risks.

Wheaton Precious Metals’ (WPM’s) Q323 profits exceeded our prior forecasts by US$4.0m (or 3.4%) at the pre-tax level and by US$4.2m (or 3.6%) at the post-tax level, driven by very strong production performances at Salobo and Constancia in particular. Production during the quarter amounted to 154,800oz gold equivalent ounces (GEOs) compared to our prior estimate of 151,919oz, as a consequence of which our FY23 production forecast remains within the company’s 600–660koz GEO guidance range, while our adjusted EPS forecast has changed by less than 1% (notwithstanding the cessation of lead and zinc concentrate production at Aljustrel until Q225).