Por que a Southern Copper vale o triplo da Vale – faturando só um terço
Para a economia do século XXI, o cobre é o novo petróleo – e as mineradoras bem posicionadas na produção do metal são um ímã para os investidores. Caso emblemático: a Southern Copper Corporation, controlada pelo Grupo México.
Cobre, the modern-day petroleum, has become a cornerstone of the 21st-century economy. Southern Copper Corporation, a Delaware-based company listed on the NYSE and controlled by the Mexico Group, has seen its market capitalization rise to $143 billion, nearly triple that of Vale, another major player in the industry. Southern Copper reported $13 billion in revenue and $7.8 billion in EBITDA last year, while Vale generated $38.4 billion in sales and $15.5 billion in EBITDA.
The disparity in valuations between the two companies is attributed to the increased demand for copper and decreased demand for iron ore. Daniel Sasson, a commodities analyst at Itaú BBA, explained that the market assigns a premium to copper due to its various uses in solar panels, electricity grids, batteries, and data centers.
The demand for copper is expected to double in the next decade, but the supply cannot keep pace, leading to a "massive long-term scarcity" according to BloombergNEF, a commodities consultancy. Southern Copper has an expected copper deficit of 350,000 tons this year, with global stocks being as tight that they can only cover two weeks of consumption.
Grupo México, the parent company of Southern Copper and Asarco, is a major player in the industry, with 16% of its shares in the Mexico-focused EWW ETF. The company's chairman and CEO, Germán Larrea Mota-Velasco, is a billionaire, with a fortune valued at $68 billion by Bloomberg. Despite the company's success, the development of new copper mines is a lengthy process, taking an average of 10 years to bring a project online.
Written by urgent.news from Brazil Journal's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
