Top Basic Materials Stocks by Net Margin
Top basic materials companies ranked by net margin, latest annual filings.
What Net Margin Means for Basic Materials Companies
Net margin in basic materials is highly cyclical for the same reason it is in energy: producers market largely undifferentiated commodities whose prices are set globally, while their cost base is dominated by fixed assets and long-lived operations. Miners, chemicals, steelmakers, and paper-and-packaging firms each have distinct economics, but across the sector the bottom-line margin tends to expand dramatically in commodity upswings and compress or turn negative in downturns.
Why It Matters in Basic Materials
A net margin that holds through a commodity trough usually reflects low-cost asset positioning and integrated operations rather than any particular pricing ability, since pricing is not in management's control. It is worth noting that inventory write-downs, environmental remediation provisions, and mine or plant impairments can produce large single-period swings in reported net margin that are driven more by cycle turn timing than by operational performance during the period.
What to Read Alongside
Pair net margin with Gross Margin for the top-of-stack spread between realized price and direct cost, Operating Margin for the middle layer, and Free Cash Flow because these businesses are heavily capital-intensive.
| # | Symbol | Company | Sector | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | WPM | Wheaton Precious Metals Corp. | Basic Materials | 63.58% | $61.91B |
| 2 | FNV | Franco-Nevada Corporation | Basic Materials | 61.01% | $49.17B |
| 3 | AGI | Alamos Gold Inc. | Basic Materials | 48.97% | $13.32B |
| 4 | RGLD | Royal Gold, Inc. | Basic Materials | 45.25% | $22.47B |
| 5 | BVN | Compañía de Minas Buenaventura S.A.A. | Basic Materials | 45.17% | $7.11B |
| 6 | GFI | Gold Fields Limited | Basic Materials | 40.76% | $34.65B |
| 7 | AEM | Agnico Eagle Mines Limited | Basic Materials | 37.47% | $96.85B |
| 8 | KGC | Kinross Gold Corporation | Basic Materials | 33.90% | $26.20B |
| 9 | SCCO | Southern Copper Corporation | Basic Materials | 32.30% | $142.73B |
| 10 | AU | AngloGold Ashanti plc | Basic Materials | 32.08% | $47.04B |
| 11 | NEM | Newmont Corporation | Basic Materials | 31.25% | $125.65B |
| 12 | HMY | Harmony Gold Mining Company Limited | Basic Materials | 29.57% | $10.77B |
| 13 | B | Barrick Mining Corporation | Basic Materials | 29.45% | $66.77B |
| 14 | CDE | Coeur Mining, Inc. | Basic Materials | 28.30% | $15.81B |
| 15 | EGO | Eldorado Gold Corporation | Basic Materials | 27.89% | $9.29B |
| 16 | PAAS | Pan American Silver Corp. | Basic Materials | 27.08% | $16.98B |
| 17 | SUZ | Suzano S.A. | Basic Materials | 26.75% | $11.90B |
| 18 | HBM | Hudbay Minerals Inc. | Basic Materials | 25.71% | $9.29B |
| 19 | IAG | IAMGOLD Corporation | Basic Materials | 25.67% | $10.63B |
| 20 | SSRM | SSR Mining Inc. | Basic Materials | 24.28% | $5.66B |
| 21 | HL | Hecla Mining Company | Basic Materials | 22.61% | $9.90B |
| 22 | CF | CF Industries Holdings, Inc. | Basic Materials | 20.54% | $17.46B |
| 23 | LIN | Linde plc | Basic Materials | 20.30% | $236.54B |
| 24 | MLM | Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. | Basic Materials | 18.49% | $36.85B |
| 25 | EXP | Eagle Materials Inc. | Basic Materials | 18.36% | $5.66B |
| 26 | RIO | Rio Tinto Group | Basic Materials | 17.29% | $136.19B |
| 27 | BHP | BHP Group Limited | Basic Materials | 16.73% | $203.04B |
| 28 | NEU | NewMarket Corporation | Basic Materials | 15.37% | $6.39B |
| 29 | BCPC | Balchem Corporation | Basic Materials | 14.93% | $5.56B |
| 30 | SSD | Simpson Manufacturing Co., Inc. | Basic Materials | 14.79% | $7.98B |
| 31 | VMC | Vulcan Materials Company | Basic Materials | 13.56% | $36.29B |
| 32 | BTG | B2Gold Corp. | Basic Materials | 13.13% | $7.11B |
| 33 | AG | First Majestic Silver Corp. | Basic Materials | 13.12% | $7.47B |
| 34 | TECK | Teck Resources Limited | Basic Materials | 13.03% | $29.69B |
| 35 | ECL | Ecolab Inc. | Basic Materials | 12.91% | $84.33B |
| 36 | SQM | Sociedad Química y Minera de Chile S.A. | Basic Materials | 12.85% | $16.43B |
| 37 | EQX | Equinox Gold Corp. | Basic Materials | 12.19% | $13.45B |
| 38 | TTAM | Titan America SA | Basic Materials | 11.14% | $2.08B |
| 39 | SHW | The Sherwin-Williams Company | Basic Materials | 10.90% | $83.13B |
| 40 | AMRZ | Amrize Ltd | Basic Materials | 10.03% | $22.29B |
| 41 | CRH | CRH plc | Basic Materials | 10.02% | $63.09B |
| 42 | PPG | PPG Industries, Inc. | Basic Materials | 9.93% | $27.03B |
| 43 | AA | Alcoa Corporation | Basic Materials | 9.02% | $10.44B |
| 44 | CBT | Cabot Corporation | Basic Materials | 8.91% | $3.65B |
| 45 | FCX | Freeport-McMoRan Inc. | Basic Materials | 8.50% | $85.33B |
| 46 | NTR | Nutrien Ltd. | Basic Materials | 8.43% | $33.89B |
| 47 | RPM | RPM International Inc. | Basic Materials | 8.41% | $13.18B |
| 48 | SXT | Sensient Technologies Corporation | Basic Materials | 8.34% | $5.07B |
| 49 | HWKN | Hawkins, Inc. | Basic Materials | 7.52% | $3.14B |
| 50 | ESI | Element Solutions Inc | Basic Materials | 7.48% | $7.61B |
| 51 | AXTA | Axalta Coating Systems Ltd. | Basic Materials | 7.39% | $7.80B |
| 52 | IOSP | Innospec Inc. | Basic Materials | 6.56% | $1.93B |
| 53 | STLD | Steel Dynamics, Inc. | Basic Materials | 6.52% | $31.70B |
| 54 | CTVA | Corteva, Inc. | Basic Materials | 6.29% | $7.94B |
| 55 | VALE | Vale S.A. | Basic Materials | 6.12% | $49.32B |
| 56 | SOLS | Solstice Advanced Materials, Inc. | Basic Materials | 6.10% | $9.12B |
| 57 | CX | CEMEX, S.A.B. de C.V. | Basic Materials | 5.95% | $15.47B |
| 58 | EMN | Eastman Chemical Company | Basic Materials | 5.42% | $7.36B |
| 59 | NUE | Nucor Corporation | Basic Materials | 5.37% | $55.58B |
| 60 | RS | Reliance, Inc. | Basic Materials | 5.17% | $21.24B |
| 61 | MT | ArcelorMittal S.A. | Basic Materials | 5.14% | $45.85B |
| 62 | KNF | Knife River Corporation | Basic Materials | 4.99% | $3.20B |
| 63 | SIM | Grupo Simec, S.A.B. de C.V. | Basic Materials | 4.94% | $3.99B |
| 64 | UFPI | UFP Industries, Inc. | Basic Materials | 4.66% | $4.36B |
| 65 | MOS | The Mosaic Company | Basic Materials | 4.49% | $7.11B |
| 66 | SSL | Sasol Limited | Basic Materials | 4.46% | $9.51B |
| 67 | NEXA | Nexa Resources S.A. | Basic Materials | 4.42% | $1.51B |
| 68 | FUL | H.B. Fuller Company | Basic Materials | 4.37% | $2.68B |
| 69 | HCC | Warrior Met Coal, Inc. | Basic Materials | 4.35% | $4.44B |
| 70 | SMG | The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company | Basic Materials | 4.25% | $3.77B |
| 71 | MTRN | Materion Corporation | Basic Materials | 4.19% | $3.88B |
| 72 | WLKP | Westlake Chemical Partners LP | Basic Materials | 4.17% | $747.02M |
| 73 | MEOH | Methanex Corporation | Basic Materials | 4.03% | $5.13B |
| 74 | SLVM | Sylvamo Corporation | Basic Materials | 3.94% | $1.57B |
| 75 | KALU | Kaiser Aluminum Corporation | Basic Materials | 3.34% | $1.75B |
| 76 | ASIX | AdvanSix Inc. | Basic Materials | 3.24% | $454.28M |
| 77 | CSTM | Constellium SE | Basic Materials | 3.23% | $2.93B |
| 78 | ICL | ICL Group Ltd | Basic Materials | 3.16% | $6.04B |
| 79 | KOP | Koppers Holdings Inc. | Basic Materials | 2.98% | $566.78M |
| 80 | TX | Ternium S.A. | Basic Materials | 2.72% | $9.65B |
| 81 | AVNT | Avient Corporation | Basic Materials | 2.51% | $4.17B |
| 82 | JHX | James Hardie Industries plc | Basic Materials | 2.15% | $16.20B |
| 83 | BCC | Boise Cascade Company | Basic Materials | 2.07% | $2.44B |
| 84 | SCL | Stepan Company | Basic Materials | 2.01% | $1.52B |
| 85 | GGB | Gerdau S.A. | Basic Materials | 1.99% | $8.59B |
| 86 | CENX | Century Aluminum Company | Basic Materials | 1.65% | $3.31B |
| 87 | PKX | POSCO Holdings Inc. | Basic Materials | 1.00% | $14.79B |
| 88 | WS | Worthington Steel, Inc. | Basic Materials | 0.25% | $1.88B |
No companies match this search.
Net margin is GAAP net income divided by revenue, so one-time gains and tax benefits count in full: a company near the top can show a net margin well above its operating margin for that year.
How this ranking is built
Companies are ranked by net 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.
- 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 basic materials net margins move so sharply with the commodity cycle?
Producers of metals, chemicals, steel, and paper products ship into global markets where prices are set by the balance of supply and demand rather than by the individual firm. Because the cost of running a mine, smelter, or mill is largely fixed, any change in realized prices flows almost directly through to the bottom line. That produces net margin expansion during commodity upswings and sharp compression or losses during downturns, and is why no single year can be treated as representative of the long-run profitability of the asset base.
What does a durable net margin across cycles reveal about a materials producer?
If a producer holds positive net margin even through weak commodity periods, it usually means the firm sits at the lower end of the global cost curve, thanks to high ore grades, favorable feedstock access, or efficient integrated operations. Those producers survive and often gain share when higher-cost peers struggle. Net margin over a full cycle, rather than any single year, is the more meaningful lens in basic materials, and it frequently separates structurally advantaged producers from those riding the cycle.