Top Basic Materials Stocks by Gross Margin
Top basic materials companies ranked by gross margin, latest annual filings.
What Gross Margin Means for Basic Materials Companies
Gross margin in basic materials is the spread between realized commodity prices and the direct cost of extracting, smelting, or processing the output. Miners, chemical producers, steelmakers, and paper-and-packaging firms all sit in this sector and share a common trait: they market largely undifferentiated products whose prices are set by global markets. That makes ore grades, energy inputs, and plant utilization the primary drivers of how much margin survives direct production costs.
Why It Matters in Basic Materials
Gross margin in this sector is a read on ore quality, operational efficiency, and input-cost positioning. A producer with richer ore, lower-cost feedstock access, or newer integrated facilities earns a wider spread at any given commodity price. It is worth noting that reported gross margin is extremely sensitive to the price cycle, and also that inventory accounting, byproduct credits, and royalty structures differ across firms, which complicates like-for-like peer comparison.
What to Read Alongside
Pair gross margin with Revenue to size the commodity-cycle backdrop, Operating Margin to include corporate overhead, and Free Cash Flow because capital intensity varies enormously across mining, chemicals, and paper subsectors.
| # | Symbol | Company | Sector | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | FNV | Franco-Nevada Corporation | Basic Materials | 73.91% | $49.17B |
| 2 | WPM | Wheaton Precious Metals Corp. | Basic Materials | 72.22% | $61.91B |
| 3 | RGLD | Royal Gold, Inc. | Basic Materials | 69.32% | $22.47B |
| 4 | SSRM | SSR Mining Inc. | Basic Materials | 59.91% | $5.66B |
| 5 | AG | First Majestic Silver Corp. | Basic Materials | 56.75% | $7.47B |
| 6 | AGI | Alamos Gold Inc. | Basic Materials | 55.25% | $13.32B |
| 7 | KGC | Kinross Gold Corporation | Basic Materials | 52.70% | $26.20B |
| 8 | BTG | B2Gold Corp. | Basic Materials | 50.01% | $7.11B |
| 9 | LIN | Linde plc | Basic Materials | 48.83% | $236.54B |
| 10 | EGO | Eldorado Gold Corporation | Basic Materials | 48.53% | $9.29B |
| 11 | SSD | Simpson Manufacturing Co., Inc. | Basic Materials | 45.85% | $7.98B |
| 12 | BVN | Compañía de Minas Buenaventura S.A.A. | Basic Materials | 45.18% | $7.11B |
| 13 | HMY | Harmony Gold Mining Company Limited | Basic Materials | 44.92% | $10.77B |
| 14 | ECL | Ecolab Inc. | Basic Materials | 44.46% | $84.33B |
| 15 | HL | Hecla Mining Company | Basic Materials | 43.72% | $9.90B |
| 16 | IAG | IAMGOLD Corporation | Basic Materials | 42.28% | $10.63B |
| 17 | ESI | Element Solutions Inc | Basic Materials | 41.96% | $7.61B |
| 18 | NGVT | Ingevity Corporation | Basic Materials | 39.53% | $2.03B |
| 19 | PAAS | Pan American Silver Corp. | Basic Materials | 38.82% | $16.98B |
| 20 | CF | CF Industries Holdings, Inc. | Basic Materials | 38.45% | $17.46B |
| 21 | IFF | International Flavors & Fragrances Inc. | Basic Materials | 36.16% | $20.69B |
| 22 | CRH | CRH plc | Basic Materials | 36.13% | $63.09B |
| 23 | KWR | Quaker Chemical Corporation | Basic Materials | 35.97% | $2.58B |
| 24 | JHX | James Hardie Industries plc | Basic Materials | 35.77% | $16.20B |
| 25 | BCPC | Balchem Corporation | Basic Materials | 35.74% | $5.56B |
| 26 | MEOH | Methanex Corporation | Basic Materials | 35.69% | $5.13B |
| 27 | EQX | Equinox Gold Corp. | Basic Materials | 35.38% | $13.45B |
| 28 | VALE | Vale S.A. | Basic Materials | 35.04% | $49.32B |
| 29 | AXTA | Axalta Coating Systems Ltd. | Basic Materials | 34.43% | $7.80B |
| 30 | HBM | Hudbay Minerals Inc. | Basic Materials | 33.61% | $9.29B |
| 31 | SXT | Sensient Technologies Corporation | Basic Materials | 33.45% | $5.07B |
| 32 | CX | CEMEX, S.A.B. de C.V. | Basic Materials | 32.92% | $15.47B |
| 33 | SUZ | Suzano S.A. | Basic Materials | 32.38% | $11.90B |
| 34 | NEU | NewMarket Corporation | Basic Materials | 31.46% | $6.39B |
| 35 | APD | Air Products and Chemicals, Inc. | Basic Materials | 31.41% | $67.88B |
| 36 | AVNT | Avient Corporation | Basic Materials | 31.15% | $4.17B |
| 37 | NTR | Nutrien Ltd. | Basic Materials | 31.05% | $33.89B |
| 38 | MLM | Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. | Basic Materials | 30.72% | $36.85B |
| 39 | SMG | The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company | Basic Materials | 30.59% | $3.77B |
| 40 | ICL | ICL Group Ltd | Basic Materials | 30.56% | $6.04B |
| 41 | WLKP | Westlake Chemical Partners LP | Basic Materials | 29.81% | $747.02M |
| 42 | SQM | Sociedad Química y Minera de Chile S.A. | Basic Materials | 29.56% | $16.43B |
| 43 | RS | Reliance, Inc. | Basic Materials | 28.74% | $21.24B |
| 44 | IOSP | Innospec Inc. | Basic Materials | 27.69% | $1.93B |
| 45 | SID | Companhia Siderúrgica Nacional | Basic Materials | 27.67% | $1.13B |
| 46 | VMC | Vulcan Materials Company | Basic Materials | 27.38% | $36.29B |
| 47 | TTAM | Titan America SA | Basic Materials | 26.14% | $2.08B |
| 48 | AMRZ | Amrize Ltd | Basic Materials | 25.68% | $22.29B |
| 49 | CBT | Cabot Corporation | Basic Materials | 25.32% | $3.65B |
| 50 | HCC | Warrior Met Coal, Inc. | Basic Materials | 25.01% | $4.44B |
| 51 | MTX | Minerals Technologies Inc. | Basic Materials | 24.99% | $1.91B |
| 52 | TECK | Teck Resources Limited | Basic Materials | 24.70% | $29.69B |
| 53 | KOP | Koppers Holdings Inc. | Basic Materials | 23.83% | $566.78M |
| 54 | NEXA | Nexa Resources S.A. | Basic Materials | 23.75% | $1.51B |
| 55 | WFG | West Fraser Timber Co. Ltd. | Basic Materials | 23.40% | $5.31B |
| 56 | HWKN | Hawkins, Inc. | Basic Materials | 22.61% | $3.14B |
| 57 | SLVM | Sylvamo Corporation | Basic Materials | 21.93% | $1.57B |
| 58 | CE | Celanese Corporation | Basic Materials | 20.45% | $5.10B |
| 59 | OEC | Orion S.A. | Basic Materials | 19.91% | $223.83M |
| 60 | KNF | Knife River Corporation | Basic Materials | 18.35% | $3.20B |
| 61 | MATV | Mativ Holdings, Inc. | Basic Materials | 18.26% | $645.75M |
| 62 | MTRN | Materion Corporation | Basic Materials | 17.27% | $3.88B |
| 63 | UFPI | UFP Industries, Inc. | Basic Materials | 16.77% | $4.36B |
| 64 | BCC | Boise Cascade Company | Basic Materials | 16.46% | $2.44B |
| 65 | MOS | The Mosaic Company | Basic Materials | 15.78% | $7.11B |
| 66 | CMP | Compass Minerals International, Inc. | Basic Materials | 15.33% | $961.78M |
| 67 | TX | Ternium S.A. | Basic Materials | 15.08% | $9.65B |
| 68 | VHI | Valhi, Inc. | Basic Materials | 14.22% | $455.97M |
| 69 | HUN | Huntsman Corporation | Basic Materials | 13.21% | $1.66B |
| 70 | STLD | Steel Dynamics, Inc. | Basic Materials | 13.16% | $31.70B |
| 71 | KALU | Kaiser Aluminum Corporation | Basic Materials | 13.12% | $1.75B |
| 72 | ALB | Albemarle Corporation | Basic Materials | 13.00% | $11.71B |
| 73 | WS | Worthington Steel, Inc. | Basic Materials | 11.71% | $1.88B |
| 74 | SCL | Stepan Company | Basic Materials | 11.57% | $1.52B |
| 75 | KRO | Kronos Worldwide, Inc. | Basic Materials | 11.46% | $858.63M |
| 76 | GGB | Gerdau S.A. | Basic Materials | 11.41% | $8.59B |
| 77 | CENX | Century Aluminum Company | Basic Materials | 10.14% | $3.31B |
| 78 | AMR | Alpha Metallurgical Resources, Inc. | Basic Materials | 9.62% | $1.87B |
| 79 | TROX | Tronox Holdings plc | Basic Materials | 9.28% | $400.86M |
| 80 | LYB | LyondellBasell Industries N.V. | Basic Materials | 8.55% | $19.63B |
| 81 | RYAM | Rayonier Advanced Materials Inc. | Basic Materials | 8.10% | $399.10M |
| 82 | PKX | POSCO Holdings Inc. | Basic Materials | 7.45% | $14.79B |
| 83 | CLW | Clearwater Paper Corporation | Basic Materials | 7.43% | $214.20M |
| 84 | OLN | Olin Corporation | Basic Materials | 7.40% | $1.97B |
| 85 | WLK | Westlake Corporation | Basic Materials | 7.28% | $8.12B |
| 86 | MT | ArcelorMittal S.A. | Basic Materials | 7.13% | $45.85B |
| 87 | GPRE | Green Plains Inc. | Basic Materials | 6.55% | $927.36M |
| 88 | CLMT | Calumet, Inc. | Basic Materials | 5.94% | $3.48B |
| 89 | MERC | Mercer International Inc. | Basic Materials | 4.93% | $17.42M |
| 90 | BAK | Braskem S.A. | Basic Materials | 2.20% | $434.35M |
No companies match this search.
How this ranking is built
Companies are ranked by gross margin 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 $1 billion in annual revenue or above, so a small filer with a freak ratio cannot top the list.
- Value range: Only figures above 0% and up to 100% qualify.
- Narrow cost lines: A company whose cost line holds only part of its direct costs, such as a utility counting only the energy it buys, is left out, because revenue less that line is not a gross margin. Its financials page shows the figure under its own name.
- Cost-classification check: A company whose gross margin runs more than 70 points above its operating margin is left out, because at that gap the split between cost of sales and operating cost is a reporting convention rather than a margin. A company with no usable operating margin, usually because it reports no operating income, is left out too, since the gap cannot be checked.
- 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
What role do ore grades and feedstock quality play in materials gross margin?
In mining, the grade of the ore being extracted determines how much metal is recovered per ton of rock moved, which directly sets the unit cost of production. Higher grades mean fewer tons, less energy, and less processing to produce the same output, which translates into a wider gross margin at any given metal price. Chemical and paper producers face a parallel dynamic around feedstock quality and location. Over long horizons, asset quality is often the single most durable driver of gross margin differences among peers.
Why are basic materials gross margins so cyclical?
The products sold are commodities, which means realized prices are dictated by global supply and demand rather than by any single producer. When demand tightens and prices rise, the fixed cost base of a mine or mill is overwhelmed by the revenue expansion and gross margin widens sharply. When prices fall, the same cost base crushes the margin and can push firms below breakeven. This is structural to the industry and is why cycle-through-cycle margin discipline, not any single year, tends to be the more useful lens.