Hudbay Minerals Stock Has Quietly Amassed a 430% 3-Year Return

Here’s why Hudbay Minerals stock has extensively outperformed the Canadian stock market over the last three years.

Kay Ng

Author Bio Kay graduated from the University of British Columbia with a Bachelor of Science in Computer Science and furthered her studies in financial markets, finance, and financial accounting. She began investing in dividend stocks in 2008, turning an early interest into a lasting passion. Over the years, Kay has refined her investment approach to focus on high-quality businesses, using fundamental analysis and valuation to identify long-term investment opportunities. Her investment research and articles have been featured in The Motley Fool, Sure Dividend, and Seeking Alpha. Outside of investing, Kay enjoys playing the piano, from popular songs learned by ear to challenging classical compositions. Her favourites include Fantaisie-Impromptu by Frédéric Chopin and La Campanella by Franz Liszt. Education Bachelor of Science (BSc) in Computer Science, University of British Columbia Further studies in financial markets, finance, and financial accounting Areas of Expertise Dividend stocks, fundamental analysis, company valuation, quality investing, long-term investing, business fundamentals, and identifying investment opportunities in high-quality companies. Social Media Profiles LinkedIn Favorite Investment Quotes “The best way to measure your investing success is not by whether you’re beating the market but by whether you’ve put in place a financial plan and a behavioral discipline that are likely to get you where you want to go.” — Benjamin Graham “A market downturn doesn’t bother us. It is an opportunity to increase our ownership of great companies with great management at good prices.” — Warren Buffett

Published September 17, 3:45 pm EDT

A remarkable 430% three-year return is easy to miss, especially when it comes from a mining stock. But Hudbay Minerals (TSX: HBM) has quietly delivered exactly that.

The Toronto Stock Exchange recently highlighted Hudbay Minerals among its 30 top-performing companies based on three-year dividend-adjusted share price performance. Put simply, a $1,000 investment three years ago would have grown to roughly $5,300, including the effect of dividends.

That is a striking result compared with the roughly 84% return generated by the Canadian market over the same period, using the iShares S&P/TSX 60 Index ETF as a benchmark.

So, what has driven Hudbay Mineral’s impressive run?

Stacked gold bars — Source: Getty Images

Copper and gold have provided powerful tailwinds

Hudbay Mineral’s transformation has been powered by a combination of favourable commodity prices, strategic acquisitions, operational improvements, and balance-sheet strengthening.

As a copper-focused producer, Hudbay has benefited from rising copper prices and growing expectations for long-term demand. The expansion of artificial intelligence (AI) data centres, electric vehicles (EVs), renewable energy infrastructure, and broader electrification could all require substantial amounts of copper.

Gold has provided another important tailwind. Although copper is Hudbay Minerals’s primary commodity, the company also has gold exposure, particularly through its Manitoba operations. With gold prices reaching record levels, that by-product production has helped boost profitability.

The impact is visible in Hudbay Minerals’s financial results. Its operating margin increased from 17.8% in 2023 to 29.8% in the trailing 12 months (TTM) ending in mid-2026. Operating income climbed from US$300.2 million to US$734.8 million over the same period.

Acquisitions are adding another layer of growth

Hudbay Minerals’s acquisition of the Copper Mountain mine in British Columbia in June 2023 was another important piece of the growth story.

Rather than simply adding the asset to its portfolio, Hudbay has worked to improve its performance. The company remobilized haul trucks, increased mill throughput, and improved metallurgical recoveries.

Further, more recently, Hudbay Minerals secured regulatory approvals to increase mill throughput at its Constancia mine in Peru and extended the mine life of its Snow Lake gold operations in Manitoba.

Those initiatives could help the company get more production from its existing asset base without relying entirely on new discoveries.

A stronger balance sheet could support the next chapter

Hudbay Minerals has also translated stronger commodity prices and production into substantially higher cash generation.

Revenue increased from US$1.7 billion in 2023 to US$2.5 billion on a TTM basis, while adjusted EBITDA, a cash flow proxy, reached a record US$1.3 billion by mid-2026.

At the same time, Hudbay Minerals has aggressively reduced debt, using free cash flow to retire hundreds of millions of dollars of senior unsecured notes. Its reported net debt-to-EBITDA ratio had fallen to negative 0.1 times.

For investors bullish on copper, gold, and the long-term electrification and AI infrastructure themes, Hudbay Minerals offers a combination of commodity exposure, operational growth, and financial improvement. The shares are certainly no longer undiscovered, but a supportive backdrop and the company’s improving fundamentals could give investors reason to keep this Canadian mining stock, at least, on their watch list.