Assessing Southern Copper’s Value After Five-Year Run and Copper Demand Surge

Thinking about what to do with Southern Copper shares right now? You are not alone. After the stock’s impressive run, plenty of investors are asking the same question. Southern Copper has handed investors a five-year return of more than 220%, with a year-to-date jump of 44.2% as of the last close at $129.34. Momentum slowed this past week, dipping by 0.4%, but zoom out just a bit and the stock is up over 8% in the past month. It is this combination of recent volatility and long-term growth that has everyone watching closely.

Recent news around global copper demand and reports of new investment in infrastructure have only added fuel to the fire. As supply chain optimism picks up and market-watchers weigh geopolitical developments, Southern Copper finds itself squarely in the spotlight. The company has earned this position with a portfolio that tracks closely to the fortunes of the world’s industrial recovery.

But let’s shift to the big question: Is Southern Copper’s current price justified, or has this sizzling stock run ahead of its value? If you are wondering how undervalued (or overvalued) the company might be, Southern Copper currently scores 0 out of 6 on our valuation check, meaning it does not show signs of being undervalued in any of the six categories we track. Still, valuations are rarely the whole story. Up next, we will break down the different approaches for assessing value and why a modern take on valuation might be more insightful than ever before.

Southern Copper scores just 0/6 on our valuation checks. See what other red flags we found in the full valuation breakdown.

A Discounted Cash Flow (DCF) model estimates a company’s intrinsic value by projecting its future cash flows and discounting them back to their present value. This approach helps investors figure out what a company’s shares are really worth compared to their current market price.

For Southern Copper, the DCF uses a two-stage Free Cash Flow to Equity model. The company’s last twelve months of Free Cash Flow stand at $3.36 billion, with analyst forecasts suggesting fairly steady, though slightly declining, cash flows over the next decade. By 2029, projected Free Cash Flow is expected to be around $3.00 billion, and by 2035, model extrapolation sees it falling closer to $1.96 billion as growth rates moderate. Most of these future estimates are based on a blend of analyst predictions for the next five years, followed by data-driven extrapolation for the longer term.

Bringing all these cash flows back to today’s dollars gives an estimated intrinsic value for Southern Copper of $48.78 per share. With shares recently trading at $129.34, the DCF model implies the stock is about 165% overvalued at current prices.

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