Episode Details
Back to EpisodesPan American Silver (PAAS) Q2 2026: The Miss Was A Tax Bill
Published 4 days, 9 hours ago
Description
Pan American Silver Corp. (PAAS) Q2 2026 — Q2 2026 (quarter ended June 30, 2026): revenue $1,124M, up 38.4%. Net earnings $305M. Basic adjusted EPS $0.73 vs an $0.84 bar. Attributable free cash flow $344M vs $488M in Q1. Stock -9.49% to $47.41.
Pan American Silver earned 73 cents against an 84-cent bar and fell 9.49% to $47.41. Every headline calls this a silver miner missing estimates. Nine cents of the eleven-cent shortfall is the tax line, the operating shortfall is gold rather than silver, and realised silver fell 20.6% sequentially to $70.97.
THE CALL: AVOID (3/5, PRICED FOR SILVER THE COMPANY WON'T UNDERWRITE) — base-case value ~$37.8 vs ~$47.41 today.
KEY METRICS:
- CALL: AVOID, 3/5. Fair value ~$37.80 vs the $47.41 Aug 13 close, 20% below. A miner is a spread business, so we price the spread at management's own H2 deck of $60 silver and $4,000 gold: 26.0 Moz of silver at a $42.20 margin is $1,097M, 700 koz of gold at a $2,016 margin is $1,411M, total $2,508M, less $560M of guided cash tax and $784M of capital, overhead and interest leaves $1,164M of free cash flow.
- THE MISS IS A TAX MISS: pre-tax earnings were $484M, down 24% from Q1's $641M, but the tax charge barely moved - $185M became $179M. The effective rate went 19.2% (Q2 2025) to 28.9% (Q1 2026) to 37.0%. Run this quarter at Q1's rate and net earnings are $344M, about $0.81 a share against the $0.84 bar - a 3% miss, not 13%. $0.09 of the $0.11 shortfall is tax alone.
- IT IS A GOLD COMPANY: gold is 57.6% of attributable revenue ($730M), silver only 36.2% ($459M). Each metal's attributable production at its own realised price sums to $1,268M - the reported attributable revenue exactly. Silver production printed 6,469 koz, the HIGH end of guidance; gold printed 165.9 koz, BELOW it. FY gold guidance moved to the low end of 700-750 koz and gold AISC to the high end of $1,700-1,850.
- SILVER FELL INTO THIS PRINT: realised silver was $89.43/oz in Q1 and $70.97/oz in Q2, down 20.6%. Silver Segment AISC went $6.63 to $17.80 as by-product credits collapsed. Per-ounce silver margin fell from $82.80 to $53.17, down 35.8%, on slightly higher production. Attributable free cash flow went $488M to $344M. Management's own stated H2 planning deck is $60 silver and $4,000 gold.
- THE INVERSION: market cap $19,773M on the 417,074,000 shares the release counts (the feeds publish $19,976M and have not caught the buyback), less $959M net cash, is $18,814M of enterprise value - 14.2x trailing earnings and 17.0x our free cash flow. Hold gold at $4,000 and solve for the silver price that justifies $47.41 and you get about $74/oz sustained, 23% above management's own figure.
What to watch: UP: silver sustained above $80/oz; Jacobina and El Penon stabilising in Q3; La Colorada Skarn ahead of schedule. DOWN: silver toward $45-55; a third straight quarter of falling attributable free cash flow; further gold guidance cuts.
Also on YouTube: @ChargedAlpha
DISCLAIMER: For informational and educational purposes only. Not financial advice. Do your own research before any investment decision.
Learn investing free in the Charged Alpha app: https://chargedalpha.com/app?source=youtube&ref=video
Educational only. Not financial advice.