Hecla Mining (HL) Stock on December 9, 2025: S&P MidCap 400 Inclusion, Record Earnings and High‑Risk Silver Upside

Updated: December 9, 2025

Hecla Mining Company (NYSE: HL) has become one of the most talked‑about silver stocks in late 2025. The share price has rocketed to new highs alongside a historic silver rally, delivered record earnings, earned a promotion into the S&P MidCap 400 index – and then sold off sharply in the last couple of trading sessions.

As of early trading on December 9, 2025, Hecla stock is trading around $15.85 per share, following a roughly 6% drop on Monday and a similar slide from its recent peak. ^[1] Even after the pullback, HL remains dramatically higher year‑to‑date and sits near the top of the precious‑metals universe by market performance.

Below is a detailed look at the latest news, forecasts and analysis driving Hecla Mining stock right now – and what it could mean for investors watching HL in December 2025.

1. Hecla Mining Stock: Price Action and Volatility in December 2025

Hecla’s share price has whipsawed over the past few weeks:

New 52‑week high: HL recently touched about $18.12, marking a new one‑year high. ^[2]
Monday sell‑off: On Monday, December 8, the stock fell roughly 5–6%, sliding from the low‑$17 range to around $16 on the day, with multiple trading and technical services recording a decline of about 6%. ^[3]
One‑week surge: Even after Monday’s drop, a Zacks report noted Hecla was still up about 25.7% over the prior week, underscoring just how fast the move had been. ^[4]

MarketBeat and technical trackers describe a stock that recently reached a market cap of around $11.5 billion, a P/E ratio above 100, and a beta well above 1, highlighting both rich valuation and elevated volatility. ^[5]

Technical analysis from ChartMill shows HL trading well above its 50‑day, 150‑day and 200‑day moving averages (roughly $13.6, $9.1 and $8.2 respectively) and still within a few percent of its 52‑week high, even after the pullback. The stock is about almost 300% above its 52‑week low near $4.46 and carries a maximum 10/10 technical rating, but ChartMill also warns that recent volatility makes the current setup less attractive for fresh entries and identifies potential support zones around the mid‑$13s and low‑$12s. ^[6]

In other words, HL is firmly in “strong uptrend, but hot and jumpy” territory.

2. Big Catalyst: Hecla to Join the S&P MidCap 400 Index

The headline development for December is index inclusion.

S&P Dow Jones Indices has announced that Hecla Mining will be added to the S&P MidCap 400 Index before the market open on December 22, 2025. ^[7]

Idaho Business Review and other outlets highlight several important points about this move: ^[8]

The S&P MidCap 400 tracks U.S. companies roughly in the $8–22.7 billion market‑cap range; Hecla now sits comfortably inside that band.
Hecla will be the only precious‑metals producer being added in this rebalance, which company leadership frames as recognition of “strong performance, operational scale and consistent execution” across its silver and gold operations in the U.S. and Canada.
Management expects index inclusion to expand the institutional investor base, as passive index funds and ETFs that track the MidCap 400 will need to buy HL.

Short term, index changes often create mechanical buying pressure as funds rebalance around the effective date. Longer term, the bigger story is that Hecla is graduating from small‑cap status and joining a more prominent benchmark – often interpreted as a signal that the company has reached a new scale and level of market scrutiny.

Notably, Hecla had previously been slated to join the S&P SmallCap 600 in September, reflecting a rapid rise in market value over the past few months. ^[9]

3. Record Q3 2025 Earnings: Hecla Rides Silver’s Super‑Rally

The fundamental engine behind HL’s move has been a mix of record operational performance and soaring silver prices.

Record revenue, earnings and cash flow

According to Hecla’s Q3 2025 results and subsequent investor materials: ^[10]

Revenue: Approximately $409–410 million in Q3 2025, up about 67% year‑on‑year, a record for the company.
Net income: Around $101 million, another all‑time high.
Adjusted EBITDA: Roughly $196 million, also a record, reflecting strong margins.
Balance sheet:
- Net leverage reduced to about 0.3×, with the revolving credit facility repaid and prior notes to Investissement Québec fully paid down.
- Cash and cash equivalents climbed to roughly $130+ million, giving the company more financial flexibility.

Finimize, in a detailed snapshot on the stock, notes that Hecla’s operating margin has jumped to around 29–30%, up from a five‑year average of just over 8%, and that net debt/EBITDA is now close to 0.13×, significantly lower than the broader market average. ^[11]

Production growth and guidance

Hecla’s business is anchored by four major operations – Greens Creek (Alaska), Lucky Friday (Idaho), Casa Berardi (Quebec) and Keno Hill (Yukon) – with silver as the primary revenue driver and gold, lead and zinc acting as important by‑products. ^[12]

Recent commentary from the company and independent research indicates: ^[13]

Q3 2025 silver production of around 4.6 million ounces.
Full‑year 2025 guidance of roughly 16.2–17.0 million ounces of silver and 145,000–150,000 ounces of gold.
Roughly half of Q3 revenue (~48%) coming from silver, underscoring Hecla’s leveraged exposure to the metal.

At the asset level, Hecla continues to emphasize its low‑cost profile, particularly at Greens Creek, where all‑in sustaining costs (AISC) for silver are reported in the low‑teens per ounce and cash costs can be negative after accounting for by‑product credits. ^[14]

4. Macro Backdrop: Silver Near Record Highs

Hecla’s surge isn’t happening in a vacuum – it’s riding what looks like a silver super‑cycle.

Multiple commodities trackers show spot silver trading near $58–59 per ounce on December 9, 2025, up sharply in recent months and more than 80% higher year‑to‑date, with some sources putting the multi‑year gain above 130%. ^[15]

Financial media describe this move as a historic ascent, driven by: ^[16]

Strong industrial demand, especially from solar, EVs and broader electrification trends.
Persistent supply deficits and tight physical markets.
Large inflows into silver‑backed ETFs, which further constrain supply.

Even while gold hovers around $4,200 per ounce ahead of a closely watched U.S. Federal Reserve meeting, silver has outperformed gold in 2025 as the “high‑beta” precious metal. ^[17]

For Hecla Mining stock, this macro backdrop is double‑edged:

On the upside, high silver prices turbocharge revenue and margins – which is exactly what Q3 numbers showed.
On the downside, if silver prices retreat toward more “normal” levels, Hecla’s premium valuation leaves less margin of safety.

5. Fresh News: Exploration Greenlight and Institutional Buying

Exploration approval at Nevada’s Aurora district

Recent news flow also includes a regulatory milestone in Nevada. Hecla has received a “Finding of No Significant Impact” (FONSI) and a decision notice from the U.S. Forest Service for exploration activity at its Polaris project in the Aurora mining district. ^[18]

A FONSI generally means regulators concluded that a proposed exploration program won’t significantly harm the environment, clearing the way for drilling and related work to proceed under specified conditions. For investors, this adds longer‑term optionality: if exploration is successful, Polaris could eventually contribute to Hecla’s resource base and production pipeline.

Guggenheim and other institutions increase stakes

On the capital‑markets side, new filings show Guggenheim Capital LLC increasing its position in HL by 16.8% in the second quarter, adding 72,088 shares and bringing its total stake to about 500,581 shares, valued at just under $3 million at the time of the filing. ^[19]

The same report notes that other institutional investors – including Ameritas Investment Partners, KLP Kapitalforvaltning, Focus Partners Advisor Solutions, Vanguard Personalized Indexing and Baader Bank – have also gradually increased their holdings. ^[20]

Finimize estimates that roughly two‑thirds of Hecla’s shares are now held by institutions, with short interest around 4% of the float, down from about 5% a month earlier. ^[21]

Taken together with the upcoming MidCap 400 inclusion, the ownership picture suggests growing institutional conviction, even as traders debate whether the stock has run “too far, too fast.”

6. What Analysts and Models Are Saying About HL Stock

Consensus ratings and price targets

Analyst opinion on Hecla Mining is constructive but far from unanimous.

Different aggregators report slightly different sets of analysts and time frames, but the current picture looks roughly like this:

Investing.com / MarketWatch: Around 10 analysts with a “Buy” or “Overweight” tilt and an average 12‑month target around $14.55, with estimates ranging from $10 to $16.50. ^[22]
MarketBeat: A more cautious mix – 2 Buy, 6 Hold, 1 Sell – for an average target closer to $10.22. ^[23]
HC Wainwright & CIBC: Both have raised their price targets to about $16.50, with HC Wainwright rating HL a Buy and CIBC maintaining a Neutral stance after the move. ^[24]
Argus: A recent quantitative report from Argus raised its target price to $18.00, implying upside from today’s mid‑$15 level if silver strength and operational performance persist. ^[25]

In plain language: Wall Street likes Hecla, but not everyone loves it at these prices. Average targets sit slightly below or near the current share price, with a wide spread between the most cautious and most optimistic views.

Fundamental and valuation analysis

Finimize’s deep dive helps explain why opinions diverge. While Hecla’s growth and margins are impressive, its valuation multiples are stretched: ^[26]

EV/Sales: Around 6.7×, versus a five‑year Hecla average near 4.7× and a market average around 4.5×.
Forward P/E: Roughly 41×, compared with about 26× for the S&P 500, and often higher than many peer silver miners (commonly 20–25×).
Return on invested capital (ROIC): Around 8.3%, up from about 3.3% over the past five years but still a bit below the wider market’s ~11%.

The takeaway: the market is paying a premium for Hecla’s leverage to silver and improved operations, but that premium will only look justified if high metal prices and strong execution continue.

Technical and quantitative models

On the technical side:

ChartMill assigns HL a 10/10 technical rating, noting that the stock has dramatically outperformed the broader market (relative‑strength score above 98) and is trading above all key moving averages. At the same time, the service warns that recent price action is too volatile for a “low‑risk entry”, suggesting better entries might appear nearer support around the low‑ to mid‑teens. ^[27]
StockInvest.us classifies HL and its London‑traded equivalent as still in a strong short‑term uptrend, despite a 6%+ daily drop on December 8 and a ~13% rise over the last two weeks, but flags that rising volume on a down day slightly raises risk of further volatility. ^[28]

Momentum‑focused commentary from Zacks and others emphasizes that Hecla currently screens well for momentum strategies, but that investors need to be comfortable with sharp swings in both directions. ^[29]

7. Key Risks and Bear‑Case Arguments

Even bullish analyses of Hecla Mining stress a number of significant risks, many of which come straight from recent research and company‑specific write‑ups: ^[30]

Commodity price risk
Hecla’s earnings, cash flow and valuation are tightly tied to silver and gold prices. A sustained decline in silver – for example, if the Fed turns more hawkish or industrial demand softens – could compress margins and make today’s premium multiples look excessive.
Premium valuation with limited downside protection
With EV/Sales and P/E multiples well above its own history and many peers, HL has little cushion if growth slows, costs rise, or metal prices normalize.
Operational and geological risk
Mining always carries risks of grade variability, equipment failures, labor issues and safety incidents. Delays or cost overruns at key mines like Lucky Friday, Greens Creek or Keno Hill could weaken the bull case.
Regulatory and environmental exposure
Hecla has had to manage permitting challenges (for example, tailings expansion and environmental remediation obligations in North America). New regulations or legal liabilities could increase capex or operating costs and slow growth.
High volatility and cyclicality
With a high beta and a history of large price swings, Hecla tends to move more than the market in both directions. For investors, that means opportunity – but also elevated drawdown risk.

8. Investment Takeaways: What December 2025 Means for HL Stock

Putting all the pieces together, Hecla Mining in December 2025 looks like:

A leveraged, relatively low‑cost play on silver, operating multiple long‑life North American mines.
A company posting record revenue, earnings and cash flow, with a strengthened balance sheet and higher margins. ^[31]
A stock that has soared with silver’s historic rally, outpacing the broader market and many peers, and now earns a place in the S&P MidCap 400 – a significant symbolic and practical milestone. ^[32]
An equity that is expensive by most traditional valuation measures, heavily dependent on continued strength in precious‑metal prices and operational execution.

For long‑term, risk‑tolerant investors who believe silver’s re‑rating has further to run and who are comfortable with mining‑sector volatility, HL offers a high‑beta way to express that view.

For more conservative investors, the recent run‑up, premium valuation and sharp pullbacks may argue for patience – waiting either for a deeper correction toward technical support or for clearer confirmation that silver’s super‑cycle can be sustained.

Either way, as of December 9, 2025, Hecla Mining Company stands at the intersection of macro metal cycles, index‑driven flows and company‑specific execution – making HL one of the key tickers to watch in the precious‑metals space.