For most investors, how much a stock's price changes over time is important. Not only can it impact your investment portfolio, but it can also help you compare investment results across sectors and industries.

Another factor that can influence investors is FOMO, or the fear of missing out, especially with tech giants and popular consumer-facing stocks.

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

Harmony Gold's Business In-Depth

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

Harmony Gold Mining Company Limited is based in Randfontein, South Africa. The company conducts underground and surface gold mining. It is also engaged in related activities such as exploration, processing, smelting and refining. Harmony is South Africa's biggest gold producer by volume with production of roughly 1.48 million ounces in fiscal 2025.

The company’s mining operations are principally concentrated in South Africa. The company has nine underground operations located in the Witwatersrand Basin. Additionally, Harmony has an open-pit mine on the Kraaipan Greenstone Belt along with several surface sources treatment operations. The Hidden Valley, which is located in Papua New Guinea, is an open-pit silver and gold mine.

Also, many of these mines are located in the Free State Province such as Welcom, Virginia, Tshepong and Bambanani, along with the Evander gold mine in Mpumalanga province, the Elandskraal mine at the West Rand goldfields in Gauteng province, and Kalgold operations in the North West province.

The company has discontinued its mining operations at Mt. Magnet and South Kalgoorlie in Western Australia as a strategic move. Harmony recorded sales of $4,071 million for fiscal 2025 (ended Jun 30, 2025).

Domestic Projects: In South Africa, Harmony operates a total of nine underground operations, one open pit operation and several surface operations including an open cast mine, and nine processing plants, which are located in all of the currently known goldfields in the Witwatersrand basin of South Africa as well as the Kraaipan Greenstone Belt.

International Projects: In Papua New Guinea (PNG), Harmony has full ownership of Hidden Valley, an open-cast gold and silver project that began production in June 2009, and 50% ownership of the Wafi-Golpu project. Harmony’s exploration portfolio focuses principally on highly prospective areas in PNG and the Wafi-Golpu project in particular. Harmony expects that if Wafi-Golpu is developed, it will shift the company’s geographical mix from more than 90% South African production to 75% domestic output and 25% offshore. Harmony, in December 2022, also acquired the Eva Copper project and surrounding exploration tenements from Copper Mountain Mining Corporation.

Bottom Line

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

A $1000 investment made in May 2016 would be worth $5,255.07, or a gain of 425.51%, as of May 12, 2026, according to our calculations. This return excludes dividends but includes price appreciation.

Compare this to the S&P 500's rally of 259.07% and gold's return of 258.74% over the same time frame.

Going forward, analysts are expecting more upside for HMY.

Harmony Gold remains a high-cost gold producer, and its cost profile continues to worsen amid persistent operational and external pressures. A steep increase in all-in sustaining costs points to underlying inefficiencies and sustained inflation across key inputs. Rising labor expenses and elevated electricity tariffs are steadily compressing margins and weakening overall financial resilience. Heavy reliance on Eskom further intensifies these challenges, as power costs rise and supply disruptions remain a constant risk. Production has also come under strain due to adverse weather conditions and recurring safety stoppages, underscoring operational vulnerability. Higher capital expenditure commitments in fiscal 2026 are expected to strain free cash flow generation.

Over the past four weeks, shares have rallied 9.55%, and there have been 1 higher earnings estimate revisions in the past two months for fiscal 2026 compared to none lower. The consensus estimate has moved up as well.