Top Basic Materials Stocks by Operating Margin
Top basic materials companies ranked by operating margin, latest annual filings.
What Operating Margin Means for Basic Materials Companies
Operating margin in basic materials follows the underlying commodity cycle closely. Miners, chemical producers, steelmakers, and fertilizer firms produce outputs whose prices are set by global supply and demand, while mine operating costs, smelter depreciation, and processing overhead tend to move much more slowly. The result is operating margin that expands dramatically when commodity prices are firm and compresses, sometimes into negative territory, when oversupply or weakening industrial demand drives realized prices below marginal cost at higher-cost producers.
Why It Matters in Basic Materials
Operating margin is a direct readout of where a firm sits on the cost curve of its commodity: low-cost producers earn operating profit through the cycle while high-cost producers swing to losses at the trough. Byproduct credits and ore grade changes can shift position on that curve. Still, single-year operating margin tells you more about the commodity cycle than about producer quality, and heavy depreciation on mines and plants can understate the cash profile of mature, fully paid-down operations.
What to Read Alongside
Pair operating margin with Revenue to distinguish price-driven strength from volume growth, EBITDA to strip out the heavy depreciation on mines and plants, and CapEx to measure the reinvestment needed to sustain production.
| # | Symbol | Company | Sector | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | FNV | Franco-Nevada Corporation | Basic Materials | 74.29% | $49.17B |
| 2 | WPM | Wheaton Precious Metals Corp. | Basic Materials | 68.33% | $61.91B |
| 3 | RGLD | Royal Gold, Inc. | Basic Materials | 61.93% | $22.47B |
| 4 | AGI | Alamos Gold Inc. | Basic Materials | 60.68% | $13.32B |
| 5 | SCCO | Southern Copper Corporation | Basic Materials | 52.17% | $142.73B |
| 6 | KGC | Kinross Gold Corporation | Basic Materials | 46.48% | $26.20B |
| 7 | BTG | B2Gold Corp. | Basic Materials | 45.15% | $7.11B |
| 8 | HBM | Hudbay Minerals Inc. | Basic Materials | 41.45% | $9.29B |
| 9 | HMY | Harmony Gold Mining Company Limited | Basic Materials | 41.21% | $10.77B |
| 10 | BHP | BHP Group Limited | Basic Materials | 40.62% | $203.04B |
| 11 | EGO | Eldorado Gold Corporation | Basic Materials | 39.99% | $9.29B |
| 12 | IAG | IAMGOLD Corporation | Basic Materials | 38.33% | $10.63B |
| 13 | BVN | Compañía de Minas Buenaventura S.A.A. | Basic Materials | 36.57% | $7.11B |
| 14 | HL | Hecla Mining Company | Basic Materials | 36.18% | $9.90B |
| 15 | NGVT | Ingevity Corporation | Basic Materials | 35.86% | $2.03B |
| 16 | CDE | Coeur Mining, Inc. | Basic Materials | 34.15% | $15.81B |
| 17 | PAAS | Pan American Silver Corp. | Basic Materials | 34.07% | $16.98B |
| 18 | CF | CF Industries Holdings, Inc. | Basic Materials | 32.47% | $17.46B |
| 19 | AG | First Majestic Silver Corp. | Basic Materials | 31.58% | $7.47B |
| 20 | SSRM | SSR Mining Inc. | Basic Materials | 28.32% | $5.66B |
| 21 | WLKP | Westlake Chemical Partners LP | Basic Materials | 27.39% | $747.02M |
| 22 | LIN | Linde plc | Basic Materials | 26.25% | $236.54B |
| 23 | RIO | Rio Tinto Group | Basic Materials | 25.91% | $136.19B |
| 24 | FCX | Freeport-McMoRan Inc. | Basic Materials | 25.15% | $85.33B |
| 25 | EQX | Equinox Gold Corp. | Basic Materials | 23.79% | $13.45B |
| 26 | MLM | Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. | Basic Materials | 23.37% | $36.85B |
| 27 | SQM | Sociedad Química y Minera de Chile S.A. | Basic Materials | 23.23% | $16.43B |
| 28 | SUZ | Suzano S.A. | Basic Materials | 21.25% | $11.90B |
| 29 | TECK | Teck Resources Limited | Basic Materials | 20.90% | $29.69B |
| 30 | VMC | Vulcan Materials Company | Basic Materials | 20.40% | $36.29B |
| 31 | BCPC | Balchem Corporation | Basic Materials | 20.18% | $5.56B |
| 32 | NEU | NewMarket Corporation | Basic Materials | 19.95% | $6.39B |
| 33 | SSD | Simpson Manufacturing Co., Inc. | Basic Materials | 19.64% | $7.98B |
| 34 | ECL | Ecolab Inc. | Basic Materials | 17.02% | $84.33B |
| 35 | CBT | Cabot Corporation | Basic Materials | 16.73% | $3.65B |
| 36 | NEXA | Nexa Resources S.A. | Basic Materials | 16.59% | $1.51B |
| 37 | AMRZ | Amrize Ltd | Basic Materials | 16.13% | $22.29B |
| 38 | TTAM | Titan America SA | Basic Materials | 16.11% | $2.08B |
| 39 | VALE | Vale S.A. | Basic Materials | 15.36% | $49.32B |
| 40 | CRH | CRH plc | Basic Materials | 14.53% | $63.09B |
| 41 | AXTA | Axalta Coating Systems Ltd. | Basic Materials | 14.36% | $7.80B |
| 42 | NTR | Nutrien Ltd. | Basic Materials | 13.90% | $33.89B |
| 43 | ESI | Element Solutions Inc | Basic Materials | 13.41% | $7.61B |
| 44 | SXT | Sensient Technologies Corporation | Basic Materials | 12.85% | $5.07B |
| 45 | MEOH | Methanex Corporation | Basic Materials | 12.01% | $5.13B |
| 46 | HWKN | Hawkins, Inc. | Basic Materials | 11.19% | $3.14B |
| 47 | SID | Companhia Siderúrgica Nacional | Basic Materials | 10.75% | $1.13B |
| 48 | SMG | The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company | Basic Materials | 10.51% | $3.77B |
| 49 | SSL | Sasol Limited | Basic Materials | 9.44% | $9.51B |
| 50 | JHX | James Hardie Industries plc | Basic Materials | 9.26% | $16.20B |
| 51 | KNF | Knife River Corporation | Basic Materials | 9.09% | $3.20B |
| 52 | KOP | Koppers Holdings Inc. | Basic Materials | 8.93% | $566.78M |
| 53 | STLD | Steel Dynamics, Inc. | Basic Materials | 8.12% | $31.70B |
| 54 | ICL | ICL Group Ltd | Basic Materials | 8.11% | $6.04B |
| 55 | SLVM | Sylvamo Corporation | Basic Materials | 7.49% | $1.57B |
| 56 | IOSP | Innospec Inc. | Basic Materials | 7.28% | $1.93B |
| 57 | RS | Reliance, Inc. | Basic Materials | 7.08% | $21.24B |
| 58 | MOS | The Mosaic Company | Basic Materials | 6.82% | $7.11B |
| 59 | CENX | Century Aluminum Company | Basic Materials | 6.25% | $3.31B |
| 60 | AVNT | Avient Corporation | Basic Materials | 6.24% | $4.17B |
| 61 | CX | CEMEX, S.A.B. de C.V. | Basic Materials | 6.23% | $15.47B |
| 62 | MTRN | Materion Corporation | Basic Materials | 6.15% | $3.88B |
| 63 | MT | ArcelorMittal S.A. | Basic Materials | 5.91% | $45.85B |
| 64 | UFPI | UFP Industries, Inc. | Basic Materials | 5.76% | $4.36B |
| 65 | KALU | Kaiser Aluminum Corporation | Basic Materials | 5.60% | $1.75B |
| 66 | GGB | Gerdau S.A. | Basic Materials | 5.35% | $8.59B |
| 67 | TX | Ternium S.A. | Basic Materials | 4.52% | $9.65B |
| 68 | HCC | Warrior Met Coal, Inc. | Basic Materials | 3.49% | $4.44B |
| 69 | SCL | Stepan Company | Basic Materials | 3.37% | $1.52B |
| 70 | VHI | Valhi, Inc. | Basic Materials | 3.05% | $455.97M |
| 71 | BCC | Boise Cascade Company | Basic Materials | 2.86% | $2.44B |
| 72 | KWR | Quaker Chemical Corporation | Basic Materials | 2.81% | $2.58B |
| 73 | CLMT | Calumet, Inc. | Basic Materials | 2.63% | $3.48B |
| 74 | MTX | Minerals Technologies Inc. | Basic Materials | 2.29% | $1.91B |
| 75 | PKX | POSCO Holdings Inc. | Basic Materials | 2.14% | $14.79B |
| 76 | CMP | Compass Minerals International, Inc. | Basic Materials | 2.03% | $961.78M |
| 77 | OEC | Orion S.A. | Basic Materials | 1.52% | $223.83M |
| 78 | RYAM | Rayonier Advanced Materials Inc. | Basic Materials | 0.28% | $399.10M |
| 79 | OLN | Olin Corporation | Basic Materials | 0.08% | $1.97B |
No companies match this search.
How this ranking is built
Companies are ranked by operating 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 does basic materials operating margin track the commodity cycle so closely?
Materials producers supply global markets where price is set by the marginal ton or barrel needed to meet demand, and they typically cannot realize prices above that level regardless of operational efficiency. When commodity prices rise, nearly all of the incremental revenue drops through to operating profit because cash extraction costs are relatively stable. When prices fall, margin compresses quickly, and the weakest producers on the cost curve can be pushed into operating losses while low-cost producers remain profitable.
Why is depreciation such a distortion for materials operating margin?
Mines, smelters, and chemical plants carry large historic investment that is depreciated over long useful lives. Operating margin fully reflects that depreciation, which in a mature, fully paid-down operation can substantially depress the reported ratio relative to the business's cash generation profile. That is one reason analysts often focus on EBITDA and cash operating cost per ton when comparing producers across regions, asset vintages, and accounting conventions, rather than relying on reported operating margin in isolation.