Wheaton Precious Metals — Serene start

Wheaton Precious Metals (TSX: WPM)

Last close As at 27/03/2024

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Research: Metals & Mining

Wheaton Precious Metals — Serene start

Wheaton Precious Metals’ (WPM) silver streams outperformed our expectations in Q118, while its gold streams performed closely in line. However, after demonstrating the traditional ‘flush through’ effect in Q417, sales of silver and gold in Q118 reverted to close to their long-term trends, with an (albeit temporary) 14.6% under-sale of silver and a 12.2% under-sale of gold relative to production. Nevertheless, adjusted net earnings of US$69.9m and EPS of 16 cents were within 10% of our previous expectations of US$77.0m and our forecasts for FY18 remain, to all intents and purposes, unchanged (see page 7).

Lord Ashbourne

Written by

Lord Ashbourne

Director of Content, Mining

Metals & Mining

Wheaton Precious Metals

Serene start

Q118 results

Metals & mining

18 May 2018

Price

C$27.97

Market cap

C$12,376m

C$1.2766/US$

Net debt* (US$m) at 31 March 2017
*Cum-dividend of US$39.9m

547.4

Shares in issue

442.7m

Free float

100%

Code

WPM

Primary exchange

TSX

Secondary exchange

NYSE

Share price performance

%

1m

3m

12m

Abs

2.4

11.7

(5.0)

Rel (local)

(2.6)

7.0

(10.1)

52-week high/low

C$28. 6

C$23.4

Business description

Wheaton Precious Metals is the world’s pre-eminent pure precious metals streaming company, with c 30 high-quality, precious metals streaming and early deposit agreements relating to assets in Mexico, Peru, Canada, Brazil, Chile, Argentina, Sweden, Greece, Portugal, the US and Guyana.

Next events

Q218 results

August 2018

Third quarterly dividend announced

August 2018

Q318 results

November 2018

Fourth quarterly dividend announced

November 2018

Analyst

Charles Gibson

+44 (0)20 3077 5724

Wheaton Precious Metals is a research client of Edison Investment Research Limited

Wheaton Precious Metals’ (WPM) silver streams outperformed our expectations in Q118, while its gold streams performed closely in line. However, after demonstrating the traditional ‘flush through’ effect in Q417, sales of silver and gold in Q118 reverted to close to their long-term trends, with an (albeit temporary) 14.6% under-sale of silver and a 12.2% under-sale of gold relative to production. Nevertheless, adjusted net earnings of US$69.9m and EPS of 16 cents were within 10% of our previous expectations of US$77.0m and our forecasts for FY18 remain, to all intents and purposes, unchanged (see page 7).

Year end

Revenue (US$m)

PBT*
(US$m)

EPS*
(c)

DPS
(c)

P/E
(x)

Yield
(%)

12/16

891.6

269.8

62

21

35.3

1.0

12/17

843.2

277.4

63

33

34.8

1.5

12/18e

826.5

281.1

63

36

34.8

1.7

12/19e

961.9

400.8

91

42

24.2

1.9

Note: *PBT and EPS are normalised, excluding amortisation of acquired intangibles, exceptional items and share-based payments.

First Majestic takeover of Primero concluded

On 10 May, First Majestic announced that it had closed the acquisition of Primero and hence we have adjusted our forecasts for Q218 to reflect 1.5 months under the old silver purchase agreement and 1.5 months under the new precious metals purchase agreement (cf 0 months and three months, respectively, previously). We estimate that the conclusion of the transaction could also result in an exceptional gain in the order of US$271.5-365.5m (61-83 US cents/share), pre-tax, in Q218.

Firm timeline established for resolution of tax dispute

The case ‘discovery process’ in relation to WPM’s dispute with the Canadian Revenue Agency which is designed to provide both sides with the opportunity to arrive at an out-of-court settlement before formal proceedings commence, is now drawing to a close. In the absence of a principled settlement, the Tax Court of Canada has scheduled a trial for mid-September 2019 for a two-month period.

Valuation: Potential 32.6% IRR to shareholders

In the wake of the Primero takeover by First Majestic in mid-May, our forecast for FY18 production is 24.0Moz Ag and 345koz Au (cf 22.5Moz Ag and 355koz Au previously – the variance primarily arising from the expiry of the Primero stream over San Dimas to be replaced by the First Majestic stream in mid-May rather than end-Q1). Assuming no material purchases of additional streams (which is unlikely), we forecast a per share value for WPM of US$35.07, or C$44.78 in FY20 (at average precious metals prices of US$25.95/oz Ag and US$1,482/oz Au), implying a 32.6% pa total internal rate of return (IRR) for investors in US dollar terms over the next 2.5 years. In the meantime, WPM’s shares are trading on near-term financial ratios that are cheaper than those of its royalty/streaming ‘peers’ on 100% of financial measures considered in Exhibit 9, and the miners themselves on 40% of the same measures, despite being associated with materially less operating and cost risk. Additional potential upside still then exists in the form of the optionality provided by the development of major assets such as Pascua-Lama, etc.

Investment summary

In terms of aggregate production, WPM’s silver streams outperformed our expectations in Q118, while its gold streams performed closely in line. However, after demonstrating the traditional ‘flush through’ effect in the last quarter of FY17 whereby there was a close correlation between production and sales, sales of silver and gold in Q118 reverted to close to their long-term trends, with a 14.6% under-sale of silver (cf a long-term average of 10.5%) and a 12.2% under-sale of gold (cf a long-term average of 9.2%) relative to production. As a result, sales were 9.1% below our expectations, although this was largely offset by the total cost of sales being 12.3% lower, such that earnings from operations were just 4.6% lower. Otherwise, the main feature of the results, from a financial perspective, was a US$2.8m negative variance in ‘Other expenses’, which predominantly reflected a loss on fair value adjustment of the Kutcho convertible note held by WPM. A full analysis of WPM’s Q1 results relative to both Q417 and our prior expectations is provided in the table below.

Exhibit 1: Wheaton Precious Metals FY17 forecast, by quarter*

US$000s
(unless otherwise stated)

Q117

Q217

Q317

Q417

Q118e

Q118

Chg**
(%)

Diff***
(%)

Diff***
(units)

Silver production (koz)

6,513

7,192

7,595

7,211

6,736

7,428

3.0

10.3

692

Gold production (oz)

84,863

78,127

95,897

96,474

80,670

79,657

(17.4)

(1.3)

(1,013)

AgE production (koz)

12,454

12,898

14,874

14,572

13,093

13,744

(5.7)

5.0

651

Silver sales (koz)

5,225

6,369

5,758

7,292

6,736

6,343

(13.0)

(5.8)

(393)

Gold sales (oz)

88,397

71,965

82,548

94,295

80,670

69,973

(25.8)

(13.3)

(10,697)

AgE sales (koz)

11,412

11,625

12,024

14,488

13,093

11,892

(17.9)

(9.2)

(1,201)

Avg realised Ag price (US$/oz)

17.45

17.09

16.87

16.75

16.75

16.73

(0.1)

(0.1)

(0.02)

Avg realised Au price (US$/oz)

1,208

1,263

1,283

1,277

1,320

1,330

4.2

0.8

10

Avg realised AgE price (US$/oz)

17.35

17.18

16.89

16.74

16.75

16.75

0.1

0.0

0.00

Avg Ag cash cost (US$/oz)

4.54

4.51

4.43

4.48

4.62

4.49

0.2

(2.8)

0

Avg Au cash cost (US$/oz)

391

393

396

399

396

399

0.0

0.8

3

Avg AgE cash cost (US$/oz)

5.11

4.90

4.84

4.85

4.82

4.74

(2.3)

(1.7)

(0.08)

 

 

 

Sales

197,951

199,684

203,034

242,547

219,314

199,252

(17.9)

(9.1)

(20,062)

Cost of sales

 

 

 

Cost of sales, excluding depletion

58,291

56,981

58,234

70,295

63,077

56,414

(19.7)

(10.6)

(6,663)

Depletion

63,943

59,772

61,852

76,813

66,575

57,265

(25.4)

(14.0)

(9,310)

Total cost of sales

122,234

116,753

120,086

147,108

129,651

113,679

(22.7)

(12.3)

(15,972)

Earnings from operations

75,717

82,931

82,948

95,439

89,662

85,573

(10.3)

(4.6)

(4,089)

Expenses and other income

 

 

 

- General and administrative****

7,898

9,069

8,793

8,913

8,750

9,757

9.5

11.5

1,007

- Foreign exchange (gain)/loss

41

163

66

0.0

-170

(357.6)

N/A

(170)

- Net interest paid/(received)

6,373

6,482

6,360

5,778

3,911

5,591

(3.2)

43.0

1,680

- Other (income)/expense

94

283

1,317

(10,093)

0.0

2,757

(127.3)

N/A

2,757

Total expenses and other income

14,365

15,875

16,633

4,664

12,661

17,935

284.5

41.7

5,274

Earnings before income taxes

61,352

67,056

66,315

90,775

77,001

67,638

(25.5)

(12.2)

(9,363)

Income tax expense/(recovery)

128

(556)

(263)

(195)

0.0

-485

148.7

N/A

(485)

Marginal tax rate (%)

0.2

(0.8)

(0.4)

(0.2)

0.0

-0.7

250.0

N/A

(1)

Net earnings

61,224

67,612

66,578

90,970

77,001

68,123

(25.1)

(11.5)

(8,878)

Avg no. shares in issue (000s)

441,484

441,784

442,094

442,469

442,469

442,728

0.1

0.1

259

Basic EPS (US$)

0.14

0.15

0.15

0.21

0.17

0.15

(28.6)

(11.8)

0

Diluted EPS (US$)

0.14

0.15

0.15

0.21

0.17

0.15

(28.6)

(11.8)

0

DPS (US$)

0.07

0.07

0.10

0.09

0.09

0.09

0.0

0.0

0

Source: Wheaton Precious Metals, Edison Investment Research. Note: *As reported, excluding impairments. **Q118 vs Q417. ***Q118 actual vs Q118 estimate. ****Quarterly forecasts exclude stock-based compensation costs.

Note that, if the loss on fair value adjustment of the Kutcho convertible note held by WPM is excluded from the above income statement, adjusted net earnings are US$69.9m and EPS 16 cents, which is a variance relative to our prior expectation of only 9.2%.

From an operational perspective, key features of the quarter were stronger production performances than expected by Edison at San Dimas and Antamina (both silver streams), offset by weaker performances at Sudbury, Constancia and WPM’s other gold streams (partially on account of another quarter of lower grades at Minto owing to rescheduled mine sequencing as part of an extended mine plan). Antamina too experienced lower grades (albeit in line with expectations, given pit sequencing), while Salobo and Penasquito experienced higher grades, in mitigation of planned shutdowns. Finally, extended unscheduled maintenance at the Coleman mine since November 2017 resulted in lower throughput at Sudbury, although Vale reports that the mine has been returned to production since April.

In the longer term, the Pyrite Leach Project at Penasquito (which will add c 1Moz gold and 44Moz silver over the current life of the mine, by recovering 40% Au and 48% Ag currently reporting to the tailings) is reported to be 86% complete (vs 62% at the end of FY17 and 40% at the end of Q317). The carbon pre-flotation component of the project, in particular, is reported to have commenced wet commissioning during April and the balance of the project is still expected to commence commissioning three months ahead of schedule, in Q418.

San Dimas

On 12 January, First Majestic (FR, C$9.25) announced that it was to buy Primero Mining (the operator of the San Dimas mine in Mexico, over which WPM holds a silver purchase agreement). As a part of the terms of the (friendly) takeover, WPM agreed to terminate the existing silver purchase agreement (SPA) and then to enter into a precious metals purchase agreement (PMPA) with the new operator on the following terms:

25% of gold production plus an additional amount of gold equal to 25% of silver production converted into gold at a fixed gold:silver ratio of 70:1 (subject to certain adjustments, which could render it 50:1 or 90:1 depending on market conditions) from San Dimas cf 6.0Moz plus 50% of any excess previously (to all intents and purposes 100% of silver production in recent quarters).

For each ounce of gold delivered, WPM will pay a production payment equal to the lesser of US$600/oz, subject to a 1% annual inflationary adjustment and the prevailing market price cf US$4.32/oz Ag in Q118 similarly subject to a 1% annual inflationary adjustment.

First Majestic will provide a corporate guarantee over the PMPA; security for such will be limited to the San Dimas assets (similar to the guarantee over its SPA with Primero).

To the extent that ore from certain areas outside the current area of interest is processed through the San Dimas mill, such ore will be subject to the stream.

WPM has the right of first refusal on certain areas outside the current area of interest.

Under the First Majestic PMPA, San Dimas is expected to contribute, on average, approximately 40-50koz of gold production (equivalent to 2.80-3.15Moz Ag at an Au:Ag ratio of 70:1) annually to WPM over the next five years (company estimate). In addition to the new stream, First Majestic will also issue to WPM 20.9m FR common shares with a value at the time of writing of C$193.5m (US$151.5m, or US$0.34/share). In addition, at the time of closing, WPM agreed to release the guarantee previously provided by Goldcorp under the existing SPA in consideration of a payment of US$10m from the latter and also to extinguish the US$0.50/oz penalty for each ounce less than 215Moz delivered by 2031.

Pursuant to its announcement in January, on 10 May, First Majestic announced that it had closed the acquisition of Primero and hence we have adjusted our forecasts for Q218 on this basis (cf an assumption that the transaction would close on 31 March previously).

Q218 exceptional gain

In our note, Majestic, published in February 2018, we calculated a net present value of the cash flows to WPM from San Dimas for the period FY18–33 of US$252.9m at our long-term precious metals prices and customary 10% discount rate for mining companies (or US$346.9m at a 5% discount rate to reflect the lower risk attached to streaming cash flows compared to mining cash flows). This compares with a carrying value of the San Dimas stream of US$132.9m as at 31 March 2018 and, in conjunction with the FR shares to be issued to WPM under the terms of the transaction, suggests an exceptional profit for WPM in the order of US$271.5–365.5m (US$0.61–0.83 per share), pre-tax in Q218. Note, however that, owing to their exceptionality, these gains are excluded from our forecasts in Exhibits 6 and 10.

Constancia

As per Hudbay’s news release, dated 26 March 2018, although negotiations to secure surface rights over Pampacancha continue to progress and it has been granted access to the land to carry out early-works activities, it anticipates that mining of this high-grade satellite deposit will now commence in 2019 (being a one-year delay cf prior expectations), in which case WPM will be entitled to an increased portion of gold from Hudbay. In 2019, the net value of the increased portion of gold is estimated to be US$7.0m to Wheaton (ie equivalent to c 7,609oz of gold at current prices).

General and administrative expenses

WPM is continuing to forecast non-stock general and administrative expenses in the range of US$34–36m for the full year, ie c US$8.5–9.0m per quarter, including all employee-related expenses, charitable contributions and additional legal costs relating to WPM’s dispute with the Canadian Revenue Agency (CRA). Investors should note that our financial forecasts in Exhibits 6 and 10 exclude stock-based compensation costs.

Ounces produced but not yet delivered – aka inventory

After demonstrating the traditional ‘flush through’ effect at the end of Q417, sales of silver and gold reverted to close to their long-term trends in Q118, with a 14.6% under-sale of silver (cf a long-term average of 10.5%) and a 12.2% under-sale of gold (cf a long-term average of 9.2%) relative to production.

Exhibit 2: Over/(under) sale of silver and gold as a % of production, Q112–Q118

Source: Edison Investment Research, Wheaton Precious Metals

As at 31 March, payable ounces attributable to WPM produced but not yet delivered amounted to 4.8Moz silver and 84,400oz gold (cf 4.5Moz silver and 79,500oz gold reported in December). This ‘inventory’ equates to 2.48 months and 2.88 months of forecast FY18 silver and gold production, respectively (cf 1.89 months and 2.68 months in Q417), or 2.69 months on a silver-equivalent basis (cf 2.31 months as at end-December) and compares with WPM’s target level of two months of annualised production for silver, and two to three months for gold.

Exhibit 3: WPM ounces produced but not yet delivered, Q316–Q118 (months of production)

Source: Edison Investment Research, Wheaton Precious Metals

Note that, for these purposes, the use of the term ‘inventory’ reflects ounces produced by WPM’s operating counterparties at the mines over which it has streaming agreements, but which have not yet been delivered to WPM. It in no way reflects the other use of the term in the mining industry itself, where it typically refers to metal in circuit (among other things), and may therefore (under certain circumstances) be considered to be a consequence of metallurgical recoveries in the plant.

Our updated FY18 outlook principally reflects San Dimas timing

WPM has maintained its production guidance of 22.5Moz of silver and 355,000oz of gold for FY18, which compares with our updated FY18 forecasts as follows:

Exhibit 4: WPM’s FY18 production guidance

Asset

WPM’s estimated output (koz)

Our updated forecast (koz)

Our prior forecast (koz)

Comment

Silver

Penasquito

6,500

6,159

6,279

vs 6,024koz in FY17 and 1,450koz in Q118.

San Dimas

1,000

2,404

1,000

First Majestic (FR) deal closed mid-May, not end-Q118.

Antamina

5,300

5,179

5,120

vs 6,554koz in FY17 and 1,339koz in Q118.

Constancia

2,800

2,675

2,705

vs 646koz in Q118; mining Pampacancha from FY19.

Other

6,900

7,592

7,415

9,548koz annualised rate in Q1.

Total

22,500

24,009

22,519

Gold

Salobo

240

237

234

Slight moderation from record Q417 with grade profile.

Sudbury

33

31

33

vs 6.5koz in Q118.

San Dimas

30

24

32

2.5 quarters of gold production vs 3 assumed previously.

Constancia

17

16

17

vs 3.3koz in Q118; gold production on upward profile.

Other

35

37

39

vs 8.4koz in Q118. Lower Minto grade; reduced 777 interest.

Total

355

345

355

Source: Wheaton Precious Metals, Edison Investment Research. Note: Totals may not add up owing to rounding.

Note that the principal reason for the change in our forecasts (apart from incorporating Q1 actual numbers) is the updated assumption that San Dimas will contribute another half quarter’s worth of silver production from 1 April to 10 May (after contributing an ahead-of-expectation 1.6Moz Ag in Q118), before the new precious metals’ purchase agreement with First Majestic comes into force, which will convert San Dimas into a gold stream for WPM (hence there will only be 2.5 quarters’ worth of gold contribution from San Dimas, cf three quarters’ worth assumed previously).

Solid medium-term outlook

Over the next five years, including FY18, management continues to estimate average annual production of approximately 25Moz of silver and 370,000oz of gold (cf 28.5Moz of silver and 355,000oz of gold in FY17 – the difference being substantially accounted for by the First Majestic takeover of Primero and the termination of the existing San Dimas silver purchase agreement in favour of a new precious metals purchase agreement). This compares with our current expectations, which are, on average, 6.6% more conservative than guidance vs 7.2% previously (simple average):

Exhibit 5: Our forecast of WPM’s precious metals production

FY18e

FY19e

FY20e

FY21e

FY22e

Silver production (Moz)

24.0

22.3

23.0

23.9

23.7

Gold production (koz)

345

370

337

333

339

Source: Edison Investment Research

In the immediate future, silver output from Penasquito attributable to WPM is expected to recover back to its steady-state level of 7Moz as the Chile Colorado pit contributes to mill feed ahead of schedule in CY18 and grades improve once again with mine sequencing. From Q418 onwards, it will also benefit from the development of the Pyrite Leach Project, which will add an additional 1.0–1.5Moz of silver attributable to WPM per year. At the same time, mining at Constancia will start at the Pampacancha pit in FY19, which hosts significantly higher gold grades than those mined hitherto and of which WPM will now be entitled to an increased portion.

Potential future growth

WPM is a pure precious metals streaming company. As such, it is interested in gold, silver and platinum potential streams. Considering only the silver component of its investible universe, WPM estimates the size of the potential market open to it to be the lower half of the cost curve of the 70% of global silver production of c 870Moz in FY17 that is produced as a by-product of either gold or base metal mines (ie approximately 305Moz silver per year cf WPM’s production of 28.5Moz Ag in FY17). Inevitably, WPM’s investible universe would be further refined by the requirement for the operations to be located in good mining jurisdictions, with relatively low political risk. Nevertheless, such figures serve to illustrate the fact that WPM’s marketplace is far from saturated or mature.

As a consequence, WPM reports that it is busy on the corporate development front, with 6–8 potential deals that could close within the next 12 months, each with a value in the US$100–600m range.

While it is difficult, or impossible, to predict potential future stream acquisition targets with any degree of certainty, it is perhaps possible to highlight four that may be of interest to WPM in due course and regarding which it already has strong, existing counterparty relationships:

the platinum group metal (PGM) by-product stream at Sudbury;

the 75% of the silver output at Pascua-Lama that is currently not subject to any streaming arrangement (subject to permitting and development); and

the 50% of the gold output at Constancia that is currently not subject to any streaming arrangement.

The other major source of organic production growth for WPM is Salobo (which accounted for 77% of WPM’s gold division’s output in Q118). The operator, Vale, is studying expansion scenarios and is deploying four drill rigs to test the deposit at depth. Given the open-ended nature of the deposit and depending on the work that Vale does and the decision that it makes, any expansion could add as much as 100% to gold output attributable to WPM from Salobo per year – albeit at the cost of an additional payment from WPM. Mill throughput at the Salobo mine was reported to be running at 98% of its 24Mtpa nameplate capacity in Q118. If throughput capacity is expanded within a predetermined period and depending on the grade of material processed, WPM will be required to make an additional payment to Vale regarding its 75% gold stream. The additional payments range in size from US$113m if throughput is expanded beyond 28Mtpa by 1 January 2036, to US$953m if throughput is expanded beyond 40Mtpa by 1 January 2021.

In the event that Salobo were to be expanded from 24Mtpa to 36Mtpa by the addition of a further 12Mtpa processing line by 1 January 2023, for example – thereby attracting an estimated c US$603m incremental payment from WPM to Vale – we estimate that it would increase our estimate of WPM’s earnings by a material c US$0.11 per share from the date of the expansion.

FY18 by quarter

We have honed our silver price for FY18 to US$16.63/oz in Q2, followed by US$16.67/oz thereafter, to reflect recent movements in the spot market. Our gold price forecast remains unchanged at US$1,320/oz for the remainder of the year.

In the aftermath of these changes, our updated basic EPS forecast for FY18 remains unchanged, at US$0.63/sh, cf an average consensus estimate (source: Bloomberg, 14 May) of 61c within a range of 53–66c (cf a consensus of 61.8c, within a range of 49–77c, in March). Broken down by quarter, our estimates are as follows:

Exhibit 6: Wheaton Precious Metals FY18 forecast, by quarter*

US$000s
(unless otherwise stated)

Q118

Q218e

Q318e

Q418e

FY18e
(current)

FY18e
(previous)

Silver production (koz)

7,428

6,059

5,261

5,261

24,009

22,519

Gold production (oz)

79,657

85,413

90,156

90,156

345,381

354,555

AgE production (koz)

13,744

12,859

12,400

12,400

51,418

50,787

Silver sales (koz)

6,343

6,059

5,261

5,261

22,924

22,519

Gold sales (oz)

69,973

85,413

90,156

90,156

335,697

354,555

AgE sales (koz)

11,892

12,859

12,400

12,400

49,564

50,787

Avg realised Ag price (US$/oz)

16.73

16.63

16.67

16.67

16.68

16.57

Avg realised Au price (US$/oz)

1,330

1,324

1,320

1,320

1,323

1,320

Avg realised AgE price (US$/oz)

16.75

16.63

16.67

16.67

16.68

16.56

Avg Ag cash cost (US$/oz)

4.49

4.52

4.55

4.55

4.52

4.59

Avg Au cash cost (US$/oz)

399

407

417

417

411

414

Avg AgE cash cost (US$/oz)

4.74

4.83

4.96

4.96

4.88

4.93

Sales

199,252

213,836

206,708

206,708

826,503

841,266

Cost of sales

Cost of sales, excluding depletion

56,414

62,137

61,548

61,548

241,646

250,299

Depletion

57,265

62,937

62,355

62,355

244,912

260,910

Total cost of sales

113,679

125,074

123,903

123,903

486,558

511,209

Earnings from operations

85,573

88,762

82,805

82,805

339,945

330,056

Expenses and other income

- General and administrative**

9,757

8,750

8,750

8,750

36,007

35,000

- Foreign exchange (gain)/loss

(170)

0

0

0

(170)

0

- Net interest paid/(received)

5,591

5,751

5,751

5,751

22,844

15,645

- Other (income)/expense

2,757

0

0

0

2,757

0

Total expenses and other income

17,935

14,501

14,501

14,501

61,438

50,645

Earnings before income taxes

67,638

74,261

68,304

68,304

278,507

279,411

Income tax expense/(recovery)

(485)

0

0

0

(485)

0

Marginal tax rate (%)

(0.7)

0.0

0.0

0.0

(0.2)

0.0

Net earnings

68,123

74,261

68,304

68,304

278,992

279,411

Ave. no. shares in issue (000s)

442,728

442,728

442,728

442,728

442,728

442,469

Basic EPS (US$)

0.15

0.17

0.15

0.15

0.63

0.63

Diluted EPS (US$)

0.15

0.17

0.15

0.15

0.63

0.63

DPS (US$)

0.09

0.09

0.09

0.09

0.36

0.37

Source: Wheaton Precious Metals, Edison Investment Research. Note: *Excluding impairments. **Forecasts exclude stock-based compensation costs. Totals may not add up owing to rounding.

Note that, as a result of the conversion of the San Dimas stream from a silver one to (effectively) a gold one, we expect WPM to become a majority gold streaming company from Q218 onwards on an annual basis (albeit there will inevitably be some quarterly fluctuations depending on the balance of production, sales, etc).

In the meantime, our FY19 EPS forecast (see Exhibit 10) has been made on the basis of assumed precious metals prices of US$22.21/oz Ag and US$1,263/oz Au (see our report, Mining overview, Unlocking the price to NPV discount, published in November 2017) – as much to demonstrate WPM’s operational gearing to a normalisation of the gold:silver ratio from its current, (almost) unprecedented, level of 79.1x:

Exhibit 7: Gold price as a multiple of silver price, 1792–2017

Source: Edison Investment Research (underlying data South African Chamber of Mines, Bloomberg and www.kitco.com)

Miscellaneous

Tradewind

On 25 April, WPM made a strategic investment of US$1.0m by participating in a private placement undertaken by Tradewind, a financial technology company that uses blockchain to streamline digital gold trading. Tradewind has built a technology platform for digitising the trading, settlement and ownership of precious metals. Its platform combines exchange technology with Vaultchain™ Gold (Tradewind’s blockchain technology tailored for precious metals), which can be applied to WPM’s trading arm.

Kutcho

WPM has an early deposit agreement with the Kutcho Copper Corporation (formerly Desert Star, market cap C$23.9m) whereby it will advance to US$65m in instalments (upon achieving a predetermined set of milestones) in return for the right to purchase 100% of the silver and gold production from the Kutcho project in British Columbia at 20% of the spot price of the metals over the life of the mine. In the meantime, on 14 December, WPM acquired 6,153,846 shares and half-warrants in Kutcho for a total consideration of C$4m (US$3m) to give it a 12.88% equity stake in the company. Additionally, it advanced Kutcho US$16m (C$20m) in exchange for a subordinated secured convertible term debt loan agreement receivable, bearing interest at a rate of 10% pa (NB which was responsible for the unrealised US$1.8m fair value loss included in US$2.8m of ‘Other expenses’ in Exhibit 1).

Valuation

Excluding FY04 (part-year), WPM’s shares have historically traded on a contemporary average P/E multiple of 27.6x current year basic underlying EPS, ie excluding impairments (cf 34.8x Edison or 36.0x Bloomberg consensus FY18e, currently – see Exhibit 9).

Exhibit 8: WPM’s historic current year P/E multiples

Source: Edison Investment Research

Applying this multiple to our EPS forecast of US$1.27 in FY20 (cf US$1.28 previously as a result of a recent increase in the US dollar LIBOR rate and therefore the rate of interest that we apply to WPM’s net debt) implies a potential share value for WPM shares of US$35.07, or C$44.78 (cf US$35.13, or C$45.93 previously) in that year (excluding the US$0.34/share value of its equity interest in First Majestic).

In the meantime, from a relative perspective, it is notable that WPM is cheaper than its royalty/streaming ‘peers’ in 100% (24 out of 24) of the valuation measures used in Exhibit 9 and on multiples that are cheaper than the miners themselves in 40% (36 out of 90) of the same valuation measures, despite being associated with materially less operational and cost risk (as WPM’s costs over time are contractually predetermined).

Exhibit 9: WPM comparative valuation vs a sample of operating and royalty/streaming companies

P/E (x)

Yield (%)

P/CF (x)

Year 1

Year 2

Year 1

Year 2

Year 1

Year 2

Royalty companies

Franco-Nevada

60.8

54.2

1.3

1.3

26.9

24.0

Royal Gold

50.5

40.7

1.1

1.1

20.6

18.0

Sandstorm Gold

66.5

50.9

0.0

0.0

18.6

15.8

Osisko

72.7

40.0

1.4

1.5

25.0

18.6

Average

62.6

46.4

0.9

1.0

22.8

19.1

WPM (Edison forecasts)

34.8

24.2

1.7

1.9

18.1

15.0

WPM (consensus)

36.0

29.2

1.6

1.8

18.5

16.3

Gold producers

Barrick

17.9

18.0

0.9

0.9

6.1

6.5

Newmont

27.2

23.5

1.4

1.4

10.0

9.0

Goldcorp

31.4

18.8

0.6

0.6

8.5

6.6

Newcrest

41.7

18.2

1.0

1.6

12.0

8.6

Kinross

18.5

22.3

0.0

3.3

4.4

4.4

Agnico-Eagle

77.3

45.6

1.0

1.0

14.6

12.4

Eldorado

59.5

119.0

0.0

0.3

6.9

5.0

Yamana

27.5

18.4

0.7

0.7

4.6

4.2

Randgold Resources

23.5

21.1

3.9

4.7

13.0

12.3

Average

36.1

33.9

1.0

1.6

8.9

7.7

Silver producers

Hecla

75.2

25.4

0.2

0.2

10.9

7.0

Pan American

22.2

19.9

0.6

1.0

10.7

9.1

Coeur Mining

N/A

31.6

0.0

0.0

12.2

6.5

First Majestic

139.4

32.2

0.0

0.0

12.1

7.6

Hocschild

29.0

17.6

1.3

1.4

5.8

5.1

Fresnillo

26.7

22.8

1.9

2.2

14.7

13.0

Average

58.5

24.9

0.7

0.8

11.0

8.0

Source: Bloomberg, Edison Investment Research. Note: Peers priced on 11 May 2018.

Financials – solid equity base

As at 31 March 2018, WPM had US$115.6m in cash (before a dividend of US$39.9m payable on or about 7 June) and US$663.0m of debt outstanding under its US$2bn revolving credit facility (which attracts an interest rate of Libor plus 120–220bp and matures in February 2022), such that it had net debt of US$547.4m overall, after US$125.3m (US$0.28/share) of cash inflows from operating activities during the quarter. Relative to the company’s Q1 balance sheet equity of US$4,925.5m, this level of net debt equated to a financial gearing (net debt/equity) ratio of 12.7% and a leverage (net debt/[net debt+equity]) ratio of 10.0%. It also compares with a net debt position of US$671.5m as at 31 December 2017, and is consistent with WPM continuing to sustainably generate c US$100–150m per quarter from operating activities before financing and investing activities. Otherwise, assuming the operational performance set out in Exhibit 6, we estimate that WPM’s net debt position will have declined organically, to US$366.3m by the end of FY18 (equating to gearing of 7.3% and leverage of 6.8%), and that WPM will be net-debt-free late in FY19, all other things being equal and contingent on its making no further major acquisitions (which is unlikely, in our view). Self-evidently, such a level of debt is well within the tolerances required by its banking covenants that:

net debt should be no more than 0.75x tangible net worth (which was US$4,925.5m as at end-Q118); and

interest should be no less than 3x covered by EBITDA (we estimate that net interest was covered 22.7x in FY17).

Note that the C$191.7m letter of guarantee that WPM has posted regarding 50% of the disputed taxes relating to its dispute with the CRA (see below) has been determined under a separate agreement and is therefore specifically excluded from calculations regarding WPM’s banking covenants.

Canadian Revenue Agency

There have been no further substantive developments regarding WPM’s dispute with the CRA since our update note of 15 February 2016.

WPM notes that the CRA’s position is that the transfer pricing provisions of the Income Tax Act (Canada) in relation to income earned by WPM’s foreign subsidiaries should apply “such that the income of Silver Wheaton [sic] subject to tax in Canada should be increased by an amount equal to substantially all of the income earned outside of Canada by the company’s foreign subsidiaries for the 2005-2010 taxation years”. Should this interpretation be upheld, we would expect it to have potentially profound consequences for Canada’s status as a supplier of finance and capital to overseas destinations in general (ie not just for the mining industry).

In 2017, WPM’s CEO, Randy Smallwood, was quoted as saying that the company is willing to settle its tax dispute with the CRA via a payment of C$5–10m “with gritted teeth”, but still believes no payment should be required. As such, the C$5–10m quoted should be interpreted not as an admission of guilt, but rather an appreciation of the costs involved in going to a full trial and also of the effect that the issue is having on WPM’s share price rating relative to its peers (see Exhibit 9).

In the meantime, WPM remains in the case ‘discovery process’ with the CRA, designed to provide both sides with the opportunity to arrive at an out-of-court settlement before formal proceedings commence. If a ‘principled’ settlement cannot be reached, however, the Tax Court of Canada has now scheduled the trial for mid-September 2019 for a two-month period.

Exhibit 10: Financial summary

US$000s

2012

2013

2014

2015

2016

2017

2018e

2019e

Dec

IFRS

IFRS

IFRS

IFRS

IFRS

IFRS

IFRS

IFRS

PROFIT & LOSS

Revenue

 

 

849,560

706,472

620,176

648,687

891,557

843,215

826,503

961,946

Cost of Sales

(117,489)

(139,352)

(151,097)

(190,214)

(254,434)

(243,801)

(241,646)

(267,566)

Gross Profit

732,071

567,120

469,079

458,473

637,123

599,414

584,857

694,380

EBITDA

 

 

701,232

531,812

431,219

426,236

602,684

564,741

548,850

658,373

Operating Profit (before amort. and except.)

600,003

387,659

271,039

227,655

293,982

302,361

303,938

415,585

Intangible Amortisation

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

Exceptionals

0

0

(68,151)

(384,922)

(71,000)

(228,680)

0

0

Other

788

(11,202)

(1,830)

(4,076)

(4,982)

8,129

(2,587)

0

Operating Profit

600,791

376,457

201,058

(161,343)

218,000

81,810

301,351

415,585

Net Interest

0

(6,083)

(2,277)

(4,090)

(24,193)

(24,993)

(22,844)

(14,807)

Profit Before Tax (norm)

 

 

600,003

381,576

268,762

223,565

269,789

277,368

281,094

400,778

Profit Before Tax (FRS 3)

 

 

600,791

370,374

198,781

(165,433)

193,807

56,817

278,507

400,778

Tax

(14,755)

5,121

1,045

3,391

1,330

886

485

0

Profit After Tax (norm)

586,036

375,495

267,977

222,880

266,137

286,383

278,992

400,778

Profit After Tax (FRS 3)

586,036

375,495

199,826

(162,042)

195,137

57,703

278,992

400,778

Average Number of Shares Outstanding (m)

353.9

355.6

359.4

395.8

430.5

442.0

442.7

442.5

EPS - normalised (c)

 

 

166

106

75

53

62

63

63

91

EPS - normalised and fully diluted (c)

 

165

105

74

53

62

63

63

90

EPS - (IFRS) (c)

 

 

166

106

56

(-41)

45

13

63

91

Dividend per share (c)

35

45

26

20

21

33

36

42

Gross Margin (%)

86.2

80.3

75.6

70.7

71.5

71.1

70.8

72.2

EBITDA Margin (%)

82.5

75.3

69.5

65.7

67.6

67.0

66.4

68.4

Operating Margin (before GW and except.) (%)

70.6

54.9

43.7

35.1

33.0

35.9

36.8

43.2

BALANCE SHEET

Fixed Assets

 

 

2,403,958

4,288,557

4,309,270

5,526,335

6,025,227

5,579,898

5,406,986

5,236,198

Intangible Assets

2,281,234

4,242,086

4,270,971

5,494,244

5,948,443

5,454,106

5,281,194

5,110,406

Tangible Assets

1,347

5,670

5,427

12,315

12,163

30,060

30,060

30,060

Investments

121,377

40,801

32,872

19,776

64,621

95,732

95,732

95,732

Current Assets

 

 

785,379

101,287

338,493

105,876

128,092

103,415

407,472

796,061

Stocks

966

845

26,263

1,455

1,481

1,700

1,484

1,727

Debtors

6,197

4,619

4,132

1,124

2,316

3,194

2,264

2,635

Cash

778,216

95,823

308,098

103,297

124,295

98,521

403,723

791,699

Other

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

Current Liabilities

 

 

(49,458)

(21,134)

(16,171)

(12,568)

(19,057)

(12,143)

(23,859)

(26,415)

Creditors

(20,898)

(21,134)

(16,171)

(12,568)

(19,057)

(12,143)

(23,859)

(26,415)

Short term borrowings

(28,560)

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

Long Term Liabilities

 

 

(32,805)

(1,002,164)

(1,002,856)

(1,468,908)

(1,194,274)

(771,506)

(771,991)

(771,991)

Long term borrowings

(21,500)

(998,136)

(998,518)

(1,466,000)

(1,193,000)

(770,000)

(770,000)

(770,000)

Other long term liabilities

(11,305)

(4,028)

(4,338)

(2,908)

(1,274)

(1,506)

(1,991)

(1,991)

Net Assets

 

 

3,107,074

3,366,546

3,628,736

4,150,735

4,939,988

4,899,664

5,018,608

5,233,853

CASH FLOW

Operating Cash Flow

 

 

720,209

540,597

434,582

435,783

608,503

564,187

559,124

660,315

Net Interest

0

(6,083)

(2,277)

(4,090)

(24,193)

(24,993)

(22,844)

(14,807)

Tax

(725)

(154)

(204)

(208)

28

(326)

970

0

Capex

(641,976)

(2,050,681)

(146,249)

(1,791,275)

(805,472)

(19,633)

(72,000)

(72,000)

Acquisitions/disposals

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

Financing

12,919

58,004

6,819

761,824

595,140

1,236

0

0

Dividends

(123,852)

(160,013)

(79,775)

(68,593)

(78,708)

(121,934)

(160,048)

(185,533)

Net Cash Flow

(33,425)

(1,618,330)

212,896

(666,559)

295,298

398,537

305,202

387,975

Opening net debt/(cash)

 

 

(761,581)

(728,156)

902,313

690,420

1,362,703

1,068,705

671,479

366,277

HP finance leases initiated

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

Other

0

(12,139)

(1,003)

(5,724)

(1,300)

(1,311)

0

0

Closing net debt/(cash)

 

 

(728,156)

902,313

690,420

1,362,703

1,068,705

671,479

366,277

(21,699)

Source: Company sources, Edison Investment Research

Edison is an investment research and advisory company, with offices in North America, Europe, the Middle East and AsiaPac. The heart of Edison is our world-renowned equity research platform and deep multi-sector expertise. At Edison Investment Research, our research is widely read by international investors, advisers and stakeholders. Edison Advisors leverages our core research platform to provide differentiated services including investor relations and strategic consulting. Edison is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. Edison Investment Research (NZ) Limited (Edison NZ) is the New Zealand subsidiary of Edison. Edison NZ is registered on the New Zealand Financial Service Providers Register (FSP number 247505) and is registered to provide wholesale and/or generic financial adviser services only. Edison Investment Research Inc (Edison US) is the US subsidiary of Edison and is regulated by the Securities and Exchange Commission. Edison Investment Research Pty Limited (Edison Aus) [46085869] is the Australian subsidiary of Edison. Edison Germany is a branch entity of Edison Investment Research Limited [4794244]. www.edisongroup.com

DISCLAIMER
Copyright 2018 Edison Investment Research Limited. All rights reserved. This report has been commissioned by Wheaton Precious Metals and prepared and issued by Edison for publication globally. All information used in the publication of this report has been compiled from publicly available sources that are believed to be reliable, however we do not guarantee the accuracy or completeness of this report. Opinions contained in this report represent those of the research department of Edison at the time of publication. The securities described in the Investment Research may not be eligible for sale in all jurisdictions or to certain categories of investors. This research is issued in Australia by Edison Investment Research Pty Ltd (Corporate Authorised Representative (1252501) of Myonlineadvisers Pty Ltd (AFSL: 427484)) and any access to it, is intended only for "wholesale clients" within the meaning of the Corporations Act 2001 of Australia. The Investment Research is distributed in the United States by Edison US to major US institutional investors only. Edison US is registered as an investment adviser with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Edison US relies upon the "publishers' exclusion" from the definition of investment adviser under Section 202(a)(11) of the Investment Advisers Act of 1940 and corresponding state securities laws. As such, Edison does not offer or provide personalised advice. We publish information about companies in which we believe our readers may be interested and this information reflects our sincere opinions. The information that we provide or that is derived from our website is not intended to be, and should not be construed in any manner whatsoever as, personalised advice. Also, our website and the information provided by us should not be construed by any subscriber or prospective subscriber as Edison’s solicitation to effect, or attempt to effect, any transaction in a security. The research in this document is intended for New Zealand resident professional financial advisers or brokers (for use in their roles as financial advisers or brokers) and habitual investors who are “wholesale clients” for the purpose of the Financial Advisers Act 2008 (FAA) (as described in sections 5(c) (1)(a), (b) and (c) of the FAA). This is not a solicitation or inducement to buy, sell, subscribe, or underwrite any securities mentioned or in the topic of this document. This document is provided for information purposes only and should not be construed as an offer or solicitation for investment in any securities mentioned or in the topic of this document. A marketing communication under FCA Rules, this document has not been prepared in accordance with the legal requirements designed to promote the independence of investment research and is not subject to any prohibition on dealing ahead of the dissemination of investment research.
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Edison is an investment research and advisory company, with offices in North America, Europe, the Middle East and AsiaPac. The heart of Edison is our world-renowned equity research platform and deep multi-sector expertise. At Edison Investment Research, our research is widely read by international investors, advisers and stakeholders. Edison Advisors leverages our core research platform to provide differentiated services including investor relations and strategic consulting. Edison is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. Edison Investment Research (NZ) Limited (Edison NZ) is the New Zealand subsidiary of Edison. Edison NZ is registered on the New Zealand Financial Service Providers Register (FSP number 247505) and is registered to provide wholesale and/or generic financial adviser services only. Edison Investment Research Inc (Edison US) is the US subsidiary of Edison and is regulated by the Securities and Exchange Commission. Edison Investment Research Pty Limited (Edison Aus) [46085869] is the Australian subsidiary of Edison. Edison Germany is a branch entity of Edison Investment Research Limited [4794244]. www.edisongroup.com

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