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The Moat Index

HECLA MINING COMPANY

HL · Materials · FY2025 filings · No moat ·

Doesn't clear the bar

37/ 100
No moat

The four filters

Pricing power11

Median gross margin 22.3% over 10y, variable.

Returns on capital4

Median ROIC 3.0%, above the 9% hurdle in 10% of years.

Balance-sheet safety100

Net cash position — no leverage risk.

Capital discipline60

Owner earnings +20.2%/yr, share count growing (dilution).

Margin of safety

Above valueOn sale
No price data
Owner earnings (normalized)
$35.8M
Est. intrinsic value / share
—
Recent price
$14.33
Discount to value
No price data

Conservative model: 9% discount rate, 4% assumed growth (capped at 4%), maintenance capex ≈ min(capex, D&A).

19 years of fundamentals

The business, in plain English

HECLA MINING COMPANY booked $1.4B of revenue in FY2025 in the Materials sector and kept 43.7% of it as gross profit — a solid-margin business by that measure. After every other cost, 22.6% of each revenue dollar reached the bottom line.

Across the filed record, revenue grew from $477.6M (FY2011) to $1.4B (FY2025) — about 8.1% a year compounded over 14 years.

It earned 14.7% on invested capital in FY2025, with a median of 1.9% across 18 filed years. The Returns on Capital filter above scores it 4/100.

The balance sheet carried $0 of total debt in FY2025 against $321.7M of owner earnings — roughly 0.0 years of owner earnings to retire it all. Balance-Sheet Safety scores it 100/100.

The share count rose 123.1% between FY2009 and FY2020 — existing owners have been diluted over the record. Capital Discipline scores it 60/100.

Put together: Balance-Sheet Safety is the strongest of the four filters (100/100) and Returns on Capital the weakest (4/100), which is how HL lands at 37/100 — a None moat.

This breakdown is generated from the filed numbers and sub-scores above — no outside narrative, no estimates. Where a filing doesn’t disclose an input, the sentence that would need it is omitted instead of guessed.

FY2007–FY2025 · 19 fiscal years, normalized from HL’s SEC filings

RevenueSales, as filed$1.4B FY2025
$0$1B2007201320192025
Gross marginRevenue kept after cost of goods43.7% FY2025
0%20%40%2007201320192025
Return on invested capitalOperating profit on the capital employed14.7% FY2025
0%10%2007201320192025
Owner earningsCash an owner could take out$321.7M FY2025
$0$200M2007201320192025

Gaps in a line mean that item isn’t in HL’s filings for that year — the series is never interpolated or estimated. The Table view lists every filed value, including operating and net margins, total debt, and share count.

Moat Score history

3 logged readings since Jul 17, 2026 · append-only, never rewritten

Moat Score over timeLast scored reading of each day, on the 0–100 scale36.5 / 100
0406080100WideNarrowShallowNo moatJul 17, 2026

Score history begins Jul 17, 2026 — the record builds from here and can’t be backfilled.

Tier changesSame-methodology crossings of the Wide / Narrow / Shallow bars

None yet — HL has read No moat for every logged capture since Jul 17, 2026.

Scores are logged append-only and never overwritten — this record can’t be backfilled, which is exactly why it’s worth keeping.

Materials context

#118 of 214 scored Materials companies, ranked by Moat Score.

Nearest peers by Moat Score

  1. #116NL NL INDUSTRIES, INC.36.9No moat
  2. #117LWLG Lightwave Logic, Inc.36.8No moat
  3. #119FUST FUSE GROUP HOLDING INC.36.5No moat
  4. #120WSTRF WESTERN URANIUM & VANADIUM CORP.36.2No moat

Compare HL with its nearest peers →All Materials companies on the Index →

Common questions about HL

Does HECLA MINING COMPANY have an economic moat?
Based on its FY2025 SEC filings, the Moat Index scores HECLA MINING COMPANY (HL) 36.5 out of 100 — below the Shallow-moat bar, so no moat. The four filters behind that score (each 0–100): pricing power 11, returns on capital 4, balance-sheet safety 100, capital discipline 60.
How has HL's Moat Score changed over time?
The record logs 3 readings since Jul 17, 2026; the latest reads 36.5 out of 100 (no moat). No tier changes on record yet. The history is append-only — readings are only ever added, never rewritten.
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Scored from primary SEC filings via the public methodology. Educational only — not a recommendation to buy or sell HL. See the disclaimer.

HECLA MINING COMPANY (HL) Moat Score — The Moat Index · Buy Like Buffett