Top Basic Materials Cash-Rich Stocks
Top basic materials companies ranked by cash & equivalents, latest annual filings.
What Cash Reserves Mean for Basic Materials Companies
Cash and equivalents represents the liquid balances available for operations, capex, or capital return. In basic materials, cash generation tracks commodity prices for metals, chemicals, and forest products, so balances swell in upcycles and contract when commodity realizations fall below marginal cost for the higher-cost tier of producers. The figure is best read against a full cycle rather than as a point estimate.
Why Cash Isn't Always a Signal of Strength in Basic Materials
Materials firms carrying strong cash through a downturn can acquire assets at distressed valuations, restart idled capacity quickly, or fund exploration when peers are cutting. That countercyclical capability compounds per-share value through multiple cycles. However a cash balance built during a commodity peak often funds peak-cycle buybacks that fail to preserve value when the cycle reverses, so capital-allocation history matters as much as the current reserve.
What to Read Alongside
Pair cash reserves with Long-term Debt to derive the net cash position across cycles, Free Cash Flow to see through-cycle generation capacity, and CapEx to see the reinvestment claim on accumulated balances.
| # | Symbol | Company | Sector | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | BHP | BHP Group Limited | Basic Materials | $18.53B | $203.04B |
| 2 | RIO | Rio Tinto Group | Basic Materials | $8.87B | $136.19B |
| 3 | NEM | Newmont Corporation | Basic Materials | $7.65B | $125.65B |
| 4 | VALE | Vale S.A. | Basic Materials | $7.37B | $49.32B |
| 5 | B | Barrick Mining Corporation | Basic Materials | $6.71B | $66.77B |
| 6 | MT | ArcelorMittal S.A. | Basic Materials | $5.39B | $45.85B |
| 7 | LIN | Linde plc | Basic Materials | $5.06B | $236.54B |
| 8 | PKX | POSCO Holdings Inc. | Basic Materials | $4.88B | $14.79B |
| 9 | CTVA | Corteva, Inc. | Basic Materials | $4.52B | $7.94B |
| 10 | SCCO | Southern Copper Corporation | Basic Materials | $4.30B | $142.73B |
| 11 | CRH | CRH plc | Basic Materials | $4.10B | $63.09B |
| 12 | FCX | Freeport-McMoRan Inc. | Basic Materials | $3.82B | $85.33B |
| 13 | DOW | Dow Inc. | Basic Materials | $3.82B | $22.73B |
| 14 | TECK | Teck Resources Limited | Basic Materials | $3.66B | $29.69B |
| 15 | LYB | LyondellBasell Industries N.V. | Basic Materials | $3.44B | $19.63B |
| 16 | AU | AngloGold Ashanti plc | Basic Materials | $2.90B | $47.04B |
| 17 | AEM | Agnico Eagle Mines Limited | Basic Materials | $2.87B | $96.85B |
| 18 | SUZ | Suzano S.A. | Basic Materials | $2.77B | $11.90B |
| 19 | WLK | Westlake Corporation | Basic Materials | $2.72B | $8.12B |
| 20 | SSL | Sasol Limited | Basic Materials | $2.64B | $9.51B |
| 21 | SID | Companhia Siderúrgica Nacional | Basic Materials | $2.63B | $1.13B |
| 22 | NUE | Nucor Corporation | Basic Materials | $2.26B | $55.58B |
| 23 | PPG | PPG Industries, Inc. | Basic Materials | $2.16B | $27.03B |
| 24 | CF | CF Industries Holdings, Inc. | Basic Materials | $1.98B | $17.46B |
| 25 | AMRZ | Amrize Ltd | Basic Materials | $1.92B | $22.29B |
| 26 | APD | Air Products and Chemicals, Inc. | Basic Materials | $1.86B | $67.88B |
| 27 | CX | CEMEX, S.A.B. de C.V. | Basic Materials | $1.82B | $15.47B |
| 28 | GFI | Gold Fields Limited | Basic Materials | $1.78B | $34.65B |
| 29 | SQM | Sociedad Química y Minera de Chile S.A. | Basic Materials | $1.75B | $16.43B |
| 30 | KGC | Kinross Gold Corporation | Basic Materials | $1.74B | $26.20B |
| 31 | ALB | Albemarle Corporation | Basic Materials | $1.62B | $11.71B |
| 32 | AA | Alcoa Corporation | Basic Materials | $1.60B | $10.44B |
| 33 | SIM | Grupo Simec, S.A.B. de C.V. | Basic Materials | $1.59B | $3.99B |
| 34 | TX | Ternium S.A. | Basic Materials | $1.53B | $9.65B |
| 35 | CE | Celanese Corporation | Basic Materials | $1.26B | $5.10B |
| 36 | PAAS | Pan American Silver Corp. | Basic Materials | $1.22B | $16.98B |
| 37 | MP | MP Materials Corp. | Basic Materials | $1.17B | $6.31B |
| 38 | WPM | Wheaton Precious Metals Corp. | Basic Materials | $1.15B | $61.91B |
| 39 | GGB | Gerdau S.A. | Basic Materials | $1.08B | $8.59B |
| 40 | SBSW | Sibanye Stillwater Limited | Basic Materials | $1.04B | $6.72B |
| 41 | UFPI | UFP Industries, Inc. | Basic Materials | $914.20M | $4.36B |
| 42 | EGO | Eldorado Gold Corporation | Basic Materials | $869.36M | $9.29B |
| 43 | AG | First Majestic Silver Corp. | Basic Materials | $793.43M | $7.47B |
| 44 | STLD | Steel Dynamics, Inc. | Basic Materials | $769.88M | $31.70B |
| 45 | DD | DuPont de Nemours, Inc. | Basic Materials | $715.00M | $19.42B |
| 46 | PPTA | Perpetua Resources Corp. | Basic Materials | $714.17M | $2.44B |
| 47 | NTR | Nutrien Ltd. | Basic Materials | $701.00M | $33.89B |
| 48 | FNV | Franco-Nevada Corporation | Basic Materials | $670.90M | $49.17B |
| 49 | CC | The Chemours Company | Basic Materials | $670.00M | $1.92B |
| 50 | AXTA | Axalta Coating Systems Ltd. | Basic Materials | $657.00M | $7.80B |
| 51 | ECL | Ecolab Inc. | Basic Materials | $646.20M | $84.33B |
| 52 | ESI | Element Solutions Inc | Basic Materials | $626.50M | $7.61B |
| 53 | AGI | Alamos Gold Inc. | Basic Materials | $623.10M | $13.32B |
| 54 | FMC | FMC Corporation | Basic Materials | $584.50M | $875.79M |
| 55 | HBM | Hudbay Minerals Inc. | Basic Materials | $568.90M | $9.29B |
| 56 | LAC | Lithium Americas Corp. | Basic Materials | $568.23M | $700.67M |
| 57 | EMN | Eastman Chemical Company | Basic Materials | $566.00M | $7.36B |
| 58 | FSM | Fortuna Mining Corp. | Basic Materials | $553.99M | $2.85B |
| 59 | CDE | Coeur Mining, Inc. | Basic Materials | $553.60M | $15.81B |
| 60 | SOLS | Solstice Advanced Materials, Inc. | Basic Materials | $534.00M | $9.12B |
| 61 | BVN | Compañía de Minas Buenaventura S.A.A. | Basic Materials | $529.84M | $7.11B |
| 62 | HMY | Harmony Gold Mining Company Limited | Basic Materials | $526.05M | $10.77B |
| 63 | NEXA | Nexa Resources S.A. | Basic Materials | $515.87M | $1.51B |
| 64 | SSRM | SSR Mining Inc. | Basic Materials | $515.56M | $5.66B |
| 65 | AVNT | Avient Corporation | Basic Materials | $510.50M | $4.17B |
| 66 | AAUC | Allied Gold Corporation | Basic Materials | $479.78M | $3.25B |
| 67 | BCC | Boise Cascade Company | Basic Materials | $477.21M | $2.44B |
| 68 | EQX | Equinox Gold Corp. | Basic Materials | $430.00M | $13.45B |
| 69 | HUN | Huntsman Corporation | Basic Materials | $429.00M | $1.66B |
| 70 | VZLA | Vizsla Silver Corp. | Basic Materials | $427.31M | $1.17B |
| 71 | MEOH | Methanex Corporation | Basic Materials | $425.33M | $5.13B |
| 72 | SVM | Silvercorp Metals Inc. | Basic Materials | $421.99M | $1.97B |
| 73 | IAG | IAMGOLD Corporation | Basic Materials | $421.90M | $10.63B |
| 74 | ARIS | Aris Mining Corporation | Basic Materials | $391.87M | $3.23B |
| 75 | SSD | Simpson Manufacturing Co., Inc. | Basic Materials | $384.14M | $7.98B |
| 76 | BTG | B2Gold Corp. | Basic Materials | $380.42M | $7.11B |
| 77 | USLM | United States Lime & Minerals, Inc. | Basic Materials | $371.12M | $3.39B |
| 78 | AMR | Alpha Metallurgical Resources, Inc. | Basic Materials | $365.97M | $1.87B |
| 79 | USAR | USA Rare Earth, Inc. | Basic Materials | $359.93M | $3.09B |
| 80 | IFF | International Flavors & Fragrances Inc. | Basic Materials | $347.00M | $20.69B |
| 81 | MTX | Minerals Technologies Inc. | Basic Materials | $329.00M | $1.91B |
| 82 | PRM | Perimeter Group Inc. | Basic Materials | $325.93M | $4.83B |
| 83 | RPM | RPM International Inc. | Basic Materials | $315.19M | $13.18B |
| 84 | OGG | Osisko Gold Group Inc. | Basic Materials | $307.97M | $805.31M |
| 85 | HCC | Warrior Met Coal, Inc. | Basic Materials | $299.96M | $4.44B |
| 86 | EXP | Eagle Materials Inc. | Basic Materials | $297.92M | $5.66B |
| 87 | IOSP | Innospec Inc. | Basic Materials | $292.50M | $1.93B |
| 88 | ICL | ICL Group Ltd | Basic Materials | $291.00M | $6.04B |
| 89 | MOS | The Mosaic Company | Basic Materials | $276.60M | $7.11B |
| 90 | AUGO | Aura Minerals Inc. | Basic Materials | $270.19M | $6.52B |
| 91 | JHX | James Hardie Industries plc | Basic Materials | $265.40M | $16.20B |
| 92 | CBT | Cabot Corporation | Basic Materials | $258.00M | $3.65B |
| 93 | HL | Hecla Mining Company | Basic Materials | $241.56M | $9.90B |
| 94 | RGLD | Royal Gold, Inc. | Basic Materials | $233.72M | $22.47B |
| 95 | RS | Reliance, Inc. | Basic Materials | $216.60M | $21.24B |
| 96 | EXK | Endeavour Silver Corp. | Basic Materials | $215.40M | $2.32B |
| 97 | ASH | Ashland Inc. | Basic Materials | $215.00M | $3.51B |
| 98 | TTAM | Titan America SA | Basic Materials | $211.75M | $2.08B |
| 99 | SHW | The Sherwin-Williams Company | Basic Materials | $207.20M | $83.13B |
| 100 | WFG | West Fraser Timber Co. Ltd. | Basic Materials | $202.00M | $5.31B |
No companies match this search.
How this ranking is built
Companies are ranked by cash & equivalents as reported in their most recent annual filing with the SEC. Figures shown are in US dollars (or percent, as noted), rounded to two decimals.
- Source: annual 10-K / 20-F filings from companies trading on US exchanges (NYSE, Nasdaq, AMEX).
- Fiscal year: whichever annual period the company has most recently filed. Fiscal years don't always align with the calendar year, so the "as of FY" stamp above reflects the most common year across the table.
- Filtered out: warrants, preferred shares, and duplicate listings that share a parent company's financials.
- Size floor: A company qualifies at $500 million in market cap or above. Below that, one mis-stated figure outranks the companies the list is about.
- Currency check: A company whose annual revenue runs above 15 times its market cap is left out, because at that gap the two figures are not in the same currency.
- Currency check: A company whose balance sheet runs above 150 times its market cap is left out for the same reason.
- Market cap: stated at each company's latest close, which is newer than the annual figure ranked here.
- Update cadence: refreshed as companies file new annual reports (typically within 60–90 days of fiscal year end).
Not financial advice. This is a research tool, not a recommendation.
Frequently asked questions
Why do cash balances in basic materials swing so widely across cycles?
Commodity pricing moves faster than the cost base of mining, refining, or chemical production, creating wide swings in operating cash flow. When copper, aluminum, paper, or fertilizer prices run well above marginal cost, cash piles up quickly; when prices fall below cost for higher-cost operations, firms burn cash to keep facilities running. A through-cycle average gives a more reliable view of a firm's sustainable liquidity than any single mid-cycle snapshot.
How does permitting timeline affect the evaluation of materials cash?
New mines, smelters, and chemical plants can take many years to permit and build, which means cash accumulated today is often earmarked for projects whose returns will not materialize for a decade. A firm with a large cash balance and advanced permits may be in a very different reinvestment position than a peer with the same cash but no approved projects. Reading reserves alongside the disclosed project pipeline gives a forward-looking sense of future capital allocation.
Why is capital allocation discipline the right lens for materials cash?
The sector has a long history of deploying cash at cycle peaks, acquiring competitors at premium valuations just before commodity prices reversed, and firms that preserve reserves through price spikes have compounded value more reliably. Cash balances that grow and then shrink in lockstep with commodity prices typically reflect distributed capital allocation, while firms whose reserves grow counter to the cycle often exhibit a more disciplined approach that matters to long-term per-share outcomes.