Top Basic Materials Stocks by Free Cash Flow
Top basic materials companies ranked by free cash flow, latest annual filings.
What Free Cash Flow Means for Basic Materials Companies
Free cash flow in basic materials reflects long commodity cycles and the heavy, lumpy capex that characterizes mining, chemicals, and forest-products operations. Sustaining capex alone can absorb a meaningful share of operating cash, and major new projects sometimes consume cash for years before production ramps. The result is a line that tends to look strong at commodity peaks and thin at troughs, more cyclical than most other sectors even after the recent focus on capital return discipline.
Why It Matters in Basic Materials
Free cash flow across a full cycle is where operators distinguish themselves through low-cost asset quality and project discipline. Yet a single strong year often reflects commodity prices more than any management improvement, and the heaviest project capex usually lands just before a new asset starts producing cash. Reading free cash flow alongside unit costs and reserve or asset-life data gives a more honest read of underlying economics than the headline number.
What to Read Alongside
Pair free cash flow with Net Income to test accounting quality against cyclical commodity moves, Share Buybacks for capital return discipline through the cycle, and Revenue for how commodity-linked sales translate into cash.
| # | Symbol | Company | Sector | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | BHP | BHP Group Limited | Basic Materials | $11.93B | $201.18B |
| 2 | NEM | Newmont Corporation | Basic Materials | $7.30B | $110.79B |
| 3 | LIN | Linde plc | Basic Materials | $5.09B | $236.08B |
| 4 | AEM | Agnico Eagle Mines Limited | Basic Materials | $4.40B | $83.61B |
| 5 | B | Barrick Mining Corporation | Basic Materials | $3.87B | $60.91B |
| 6 | SCCO | Southern Copper Corporation | Basic Materials | $3.43B | $149.90B |
| 7 | CRH | CRH plc | Basic Materials | $2.91B | $60.41B |
| 8 | CTVA | Corteva, Inc. | Basic Materials | $2.81B | $7.77B |
| 9 | SHW | The Sherwin-Williams Company | Basic Materials | $2.65B | $80.35B |
| 10 | KGC | Kinross Gold Corporation | Basic Materials | $2.57B | $23.71B |
| 11 | SUZ | Suzano S.A. | Basic Materials | $2.48B | $11.38B |
| 12 | GFI | Gold Fields Limited | Basic Materials | $2.37B | $29.33B |
| 13 | NTR | Nutrien Ltd. | Basic Materials | $2.13B | $33.13B |
| 14 | ECL | Ecolab Inc. | Basic Materials | $1.90B | $84.98B |
| 15 | CF | CF Industries Holdings, Inc. | Basic Materials | $1.80B | $18.66B |
| 16 | FNV | Franco-Nevada Corporation | Basic Materials | $1.49B | $43.39B |
| 17 | AMRZ | Amrize Ltd | Basic Materials | $1.42B | $22.03B |
| 18 | PPG | PPG Industries, Inc. | Basic Materials | $1.16B | $26.40B |
| 19 | VMC | Vulcan Materials Company | Basic Materials | $1.14B | $36.10B |
| 20 | FCX | Freeport-McMoRan Inc. | Basic Materials | $1.12B | $89.71B |
| 21 | CX | CEMEX, S.A.B. de C.V. | Basic Materials | $1.03B | $15.44B |
| 22 | PAAS | Pan American Silver Corp. | Basic Materials | $1.02B | $15.75B |
| 23 | MLM | Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. | Basic Materials | $978.00M | $38.38B |
| 24 | MEOH | Methanex Corporation | Basic Materials | $916.57M | $5.54B |
| 25 | IAG | IAMGOLD Corporation | Basic Materials | $849.10M | $8.82B |
| 26 | CE | Celanese Corporation | Basic Materials | $803.00M | $5.41B |
| 27 | SSL | Sasol Limited | Basic Materials | $731.66M | $11.04B |
| 28 | ALB | Albemarle Corporation | Basic Materials | $692.47M | $10.74B |
| 29 | RPM | RPM International Inc. | Basic Materials | $675.20M | $13.06B |
| 30 | CDE | Coeur Mining, Inc. | Basic Materials | $665.72M | $13.47B |
| 31 | HMY | Harmony Gold Mining Company Limited | Basic Materials | $609.13M | $9.06B |
| 32 | AA | Alcoa Corporation | Basic Materials | $567.00M | $10.34B |
| 33 | SID | Companhia Siderúrgica Nacional | Basic Materials | $510.38M | $948.42M |
| 34 | RS | Reliance, Inc. | Basic Materials | $502.50M | $22.26B |
| 35 | STLD | Steel Dynamics, Inc. | Basic Materials | $501.51M | $35.67B |
| 36 | NEU | NewMarket Corporation | Basic Materials | $491.33M | $7.21B |
| 37 | AG | First Majestic Silver Corp. | Basic Materials | $463.91M | $7.03B |
| 38 | AXTA | Axalta Coating Systems Ltd. | Basic Materials | $453.00M | $7.29B |
| 39 | SQM | Sociedad Química y Minera de Chile S.A. | Basic Materials | $437.69M | $15.61B |
| 40 | EMN | Eastman Chemical Company | Basic Materials | $424.00M | $7.61B |
| 41 | CBT | Cabot Corporation | Basic Materials | $391.00M | $3.84B |
| 42 | LYB | LyondellBasell Industries N.V. | Basic Materials | $384.00M | $22.19B |
| 43 | HL | Hecla Mining Company | Basic Materials | $310.25M | $9.09B |
| 44 | SSD | Simpson Manufacturing Co., Inc. | Basic Materials | $297.62M | $7.92B |
| 45 | AGI | Alamos Gold Inc. | Basic Materials | $288.20M | $11.49B |
| 46 | UFPI | UFP Industries, Inc. | Basic Materials | $276.36M | $4.52B |
| 47 | SMG | The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company | Basic Materials | $273.90M | $3.62B |
| 48 | NGVT | Ingevity Corporation | Basic Materials | $273.50M | $2.55B |
| 49 | IFF | International Flavors & Fragrances Inc. | Basic Materials | $256.00M | $23.73B |
| 50 | OLN | Olin Corporation | Basic Materials | $247.90M | $2.01B |
| 51 | SSRM | SSR Mining Inc. | Basic Materials | $241.65M | $5.40B |
| 52 | HBM | Hudbay Minerals Inc. | Basic Materials | $240.60M | $9.64B |
| 53 | GGB | Gerdau S.A. | Basic Materials | $238.42M | $9.14B |
| 54 | ESI | Element Solutions Inc | Basic Materials | $227.60M | $8.35B |
| 55 | DD | DuPont de Nemours, Inc. | Basic Materials | $227.00M | $18.91B |
| 56 | PRM | Perimeter Solutions, Inc. | Basic Materials | $208.56M | $4.59B |
| 57 | JHX | James Hardie Industries plc | Basic Materials | $205.90M | $15.81B |
| 58 | WLKP | Westlake Chemical Partners LP | Basic Materials | $201.65M | $749.33M |
| 59 | EXP | Eagle Materials Inc. | Basic Materials | $197.43M | $5.63B |
| 60 | AVNT | Avient Corporation | Basic Materials | $195.00M | $3.93B |
| 61 | SIM | Grupo Simec, S.A.B. de C.V. | Basic Materials | $164.05M | $3.93B |
| 62 | CSTM | Constellium SE | Basic Materials | $159.00M | $3.11B |
| 63 | TTAM | Titan America SA | Basic Materials | $134.87M | $2.56B |
| 64 | SVM | Silvercorp Metals Inc. | Basic Materials | $132.41M | $1.76B |
| 65 | ERO | Ero Copper Corp. | Basic Materials | $132.38M | $3.03B |
| 66 | ARIS | Aris Mining Corporation | Basic Materials | $129.07M | $2.98B |
| 67 | CMP | Compass Minerals International, Inc. | Basic Materials | $128.00M | $978.57M |
| 68 | EQX | Equinox Gold Corp. | Basic Materials | $126.00M | $11.32B |
| 69 | FUL | H.B. Fuller Company | Basic Materials | $121.22M | $2.68B |
| 70 | SOLS | Solstice Advanced Materials, Inc. | Basic Materials | $119.00M | $9.62B |
| 71 | HUN | Huntsman Corporation | Basic Materials | $116.00M | $1.69B |
| 72 | AAUC | Allied Gold Corporation | Basic Materials | $105.84M | $2.62B |
| 73 | BVN | Compañía de Minas Buenaventura S.A.A. | Basic Materials | $104.31M | $6.71B |
| 74 | USLM | United States Lime & Minerals, Inc. | Basic Materials | $102.27M | $3.20B |
| 75 | UAN | CVR Partners, LP | Basic Materials | $98.84M | $1.34B |
| 76 | WDFC | WD-40 Company | Basic Materials | $97.57M | $2.95B |
| 77 | MATV | Mativ Holdings, Inc. | Basic Materials | $93.80M | $625.86M |
| 78 | IOSP | Innospec Inc. | Basic Materials | $88.00M | $2.46B |
| 79 | MTX | Minerals Technologies Inc. | Basic Materials | $86.60M | $1.95B |
| 80 | HWKN | Hawkins, Inc. | Basic Materials | $86.09M | $3.17B |
| 81 | CENX | Century Aluminum Company | Basic Materials | $84.80M | $3.34B |
| 82 | KWR | Quaker Chemical Corporation | Basic Materials | $80.60M | $2.60B |
| 83 | WS | Worthington Steel, Inc. | Basic Materials | $80.00M | $2.08B |
| 84 | GPRE | Green Plains Inc. | Basic Materials | $73.67M | $988.34M |
| 85 | DRD | DRDGOLD Limited | Basic Materials | $70.90M | $1.97B |
| 86 | ECVT | Ecovyst Inc. | Basic Materials | $69.89M | $1.11B |
| 87 | KOP | Koppers Holdings Inc. | Basic Materials | $67.50M | $784.83M |
| 88 | CLMT | Calumet, Inc. | Basic Materials | $56.60M | $4.36B |
| 89 | CC | The Chemours Company | Basic Materials | $51.00M | $2.04B |
| 90 | REX | REX American Resources Corporation | Basic Materials | $49.39M | $1.30B |
| 91 | NWPX | NWPX Infrastructure, Inc. | Basic Materials | $47.11M | $941.91M |
| 92 | ODC | Oil-Dri Corporation of America | Basic Materials | $45.90M | $1.03B |
| 93 | SLVM | Sylvamo Corporation | Basic Materials | $44.00M | $1.28B |
| 94 | GAU | Galiano Gold Inc. | Basic Materials | $43.07M | $507.49M |
| 95 | SXC | SunCoke Energy, Inc. | Basic Materials | $42.30M | $961.63M |
| 96 | SXT | Sensient Technologies Corporation | Basic Materials | $38.42M | $5.01B |
| 97 | ASH | Ashland Inc. | Basic Materials | $36.00M | $3.42B |
| 98 | TGLS | Tecnoglass Holdings Inc. | Basic Materials | $34.49M | $1.71B |
| 99 | ELE | Elemental Royalty Corporation | Basic Materials | $30.81M | $1.11B |
| 100 | SCL | Stepan Company | Basic Materials | $25.37M | $1.58B |
No companies match this search.
How this ranking is built
Companies are ranked by free cash flow 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 is basic materials free cash flow so tied to the commodity cycle?
Miners, chemical producers, and forest-products firms ship standardized outputs at prevailing market prices, with limited ability to differentiate on pricing. When commodity prices rise, operating cash flow expands quickly because unit costs are relatively fixed. When prices fall, cash flow compresses even as cost takeouts lag. Because the sector is also capital intensive, free cash flow amplifies the cycle further. Firms with lower-cost assets tend to generate positive free cash flow across more of the cycle, which is one of the most consistent signals of quality in the sector.
How do large project capex phases affect basic materials free cash flow?
New mines, chemical plants, and processing facilities typically consume cash for several years during construction before ramping production and contributing to free cash flow. A materials firm in the middle of a major build will often show weaker free cash flow than a peer that has already completed its projects, even if the underlying asset being built is more attractive. Project timing is therefore a key context for interpreting free cash flow, alongside commodity exposure and unit cost position on the industry curve.