Wheaton Precious Metals (NYSE: WPM; TSX: WPM) has reported earnings per share and revenue for the three months ended September that missed the consensus mark, despite record revenue for the year to date.
The Vancouver-based precious metals streaming pioneer reported US$269 million in revenue during the third quarter, down 12.5% from the same period a year ago and missing consensus estimates by US$36.4 million. Headline earnings per share came in at US30c per share, missing analyst estimates by US3c.
Wheaton said a significant build-up of payable ounces produced but not yet delivered at Vale's (NYSE: VALE) Salobo mine and a 4% decrease in the average realized gold equivalent price was partially to blame for the decline.
Revenues for the three quarters to date totalled a record US$650 million, compared with US$555 million during the same period a year ago.
Gold equivalent ounces production was up 2.1% year-on-year at 184,918 ounces.
As of the end of September, Wheaton said it had US$372 million in cash on hand and $2 billion of additional capacity through the revolving credit facility.
Smallwood tells The Northern Miner the company had a real issue with putting its ample financial firepower to work. If it is unable to close new streaming deals, the surplus cash gets returned to shareholders. To this end, the company declared a quarterly dividend of US15c per common share - a 25% increase year-on-year.
The company also narrowed its long-term production guidance. Wheaton's estimated attributable production in 2021 is now forecast to be about 735,000 to 765,000 GEOs, in line with previous guidance of 720,000 to 780,000 GEOs.
"However, given strong performances at Pe??asquito, Antamina and Voisey's Bay, coupled with production being lower than expected at Salobo, Wheaton is adjusting the production mix by metal," says Smallwood, with the company once more expecting a slightly higher contribution from silver over gold.
Longer-term guidance remains unchanged at an average production of 810,000 GEOs for the five years ending 2025 and 830,000 GEOs for the ten years ending in 2030.
Wheaton's New York-quoted equity traded 1.86% higher on November 5 at US$41.03, capitalizing it at US$18.48 billion ($14.84 billion).
Watch the video interview here: