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If You Invested $1000 in Southern Copper a Decade Ago, This is How Much It'd Be Worth Now

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How much a stock's price changes over time is important for most investors, since price performance can both impact your investment portfolio and help you compare investment results across sectors and industries.

FOMO, or the fear of missing out, also plays a role in investing, particularly with tech giants and popular consumer-facing stocks.

What if you'd invested in Southern Copper (SCCO - Free Report) ten years ago? It may not have been easy to hold on to SCCO for all that time, but if you did, how much would your investment be worth today?

Southern Copper's Business In-Depth

With that in mind, let's take a look at Southern Copper's main business drivers.

Phoenix, AZ-based Southern Copper Corporation engages in mining, exploring, smelting, and refining copper and other minerals. The company conducts exploration activities in Argentina, Chile, Ecuador, Mexico and Peru.

Southern Copper has the largest copper reserves in the industry and operates high-quality, world-class assets in investment grade countries, such as Mexico and Peru.
 
Southern Copper reports results under three reportable segments. Each consist of a groups of mines with similar economic characteristics, type of products, processes and support facilities, regulatory environments as well as employee bargaining contracts.

Peruvian operations (around 36% of the company's revenues) includes the Toquepala and Cuajone mine complexes and the smelting and refining plants, industrial railroad and port facilities that service both mines. The Peruvian operations produce copper, with significant by-product production of molybdenum, silver and other materials.

Mexican Open-Pit (58% of revenues) includes La Caridad and Buenavista mine complexes, the smelting and refining plants and support facilities, which service both mines. The Mexican open pit operations produce copper, with significant by-product production of molybdenum, silver and other materials.

Mexican underground operations (6% of revenues) (IMMSA unit) includes five underground mines that produce zinc, lead, copper, silver and gold, a coal mine which produces coal and coke, and several industrial processing facilities for zinc, copper and silver.
 
The geographic breakdown of the company’s sales is as follows – Americas (50% of revenues), Europe (32%) and Asia (18%).

Approximately 80% of the company’s revenue come from the sale of copper, 6% from molybdenum and 10% from silver and zinc.

Bottom Line

Putting together a successful investment portfolio takes a combination of research, patience, and a little bit of risk. For Southern Copper, if you bought shares a decade ago, you're likely feeling really good about your investment today.

According to our calculations, a $1000 investment made in January 2016 would be worth $7,775.00, or a gain of 677.50%, as of January 14, 2026, and this return excludes dividends but includes price increases.

Compare this to the S&P 500's rally of 268.40% and gold's return of 309.27% over the same time frame.

Analysts are anticipating more upside for SCCO.

Southern Copper's performance is set to benefit from ongoing strength in metal prices. Increased output of silver, zinc and molybdenum is expected to largely offset a modest decline in copper production, although elevated operating costs remain a concern. Copper demand continues to be robust, supported by U.S. infrastructure spending and the global shift toward clean energy. An anticipated supply deficit should provide additional price support. The recent designation of copper and silver as critical minerals further highlights their strategic importance. Backed by extensive copper reserves and more than $15 billion in investments across Peru and Mexico over the decade, Southern Copper is well positioned for long-term growth. Its initiatives to reduce debt are also encouraging. The earnings estimates for the company have moved up lately.

Shares have gained 24.31% over the past four weeks and there have been 2 higher earnings estimate revisions for fiscal 2025 compared to none lower. The consensus estimate has moved up as well.


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