Hecla Mining (HL) Stock Hits 52‑Week High as Silver Soars: December 2025 Outlook, Forecasts and Risks

Hecla Mining Company (NYSE: HL) has turned into one of 2025’s surprise market darlings. On 11 December 2025, the stock pushed to a new 52‑week high of $18.13, capping a year in which it has surged more than 200%, far outpacing both silver prices and the broader equity market. ^[1]

At around $17–18 per share and a market capitalization of roughly $12 billion, Hecla has graduated from niche silver producer to mainstream mid‑cap momentum name. ^[2] Yet Wall Street’s Hecla Mining stock forecasts still sit notably below the current price, and analysts are split on whether HL is a sustainable growth story or a frothy bet on silver.

Here’s what the latest news, numbers and forecasts as of 11 December 2025 are really saying about Hecla Mining stock.

Hecla Mining at a Glance

Hecla Mining is one of North America’s oldest precious‑metals producers, founded in 1891 and headquartered in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho. ^[3]

Key features of the business:

Largest silver producer in the U.S. and Canada, operating in top‑tier jurisdictions such as Alaska, Idaho, Quebec and the Yukon. ^[4]
Core producing assets:
- Greens Creek (Alaska) – flagship underground silver‑gold mine.
- Lucky Friday (Idaho) – high‑grade underground silver mine.
- Casa Berardi (Quebec) – gold mine with strong cash generation.
- Keno Hill (Yukon) – silver mine ramping toward commercial production. ^[5]

Hecla also controls a portfolio of exploration and pre‑development projects across Nevada, Colorado, Montana and Mexico, giving the company a long runway of potential future production. ^[6]

2025: From Deep Value to Market High‑Flyer

A massive re‑rating

Hecla’s rally in 2025 has been extraordinary by any measure:

Different data providers estimate year‑to‑date (YTD) returns between ~200% and 250%, reflecting minor methodological differences but the same basic conclusion: HL has more than tripled this year. ^[7]
The stock has climbed from a 52‑week low near $4.46 to above $18, a roughly fourfold move. ^[8]

Recent momentum has been particularly intense. An Investing.com report on 11 December highlighted Hecla hitting a 52‑week high at $18.13, with a one‑year gain of about 226% and a YTD return around 251%, backed by strong revenue growth and what the service called “great” financial health metrics—even while flagging that HL trades above its estimated fair value. ^[9]

Meanwhile, a piece from Simply Wall St notes that HL is up about 223% year‑to‑date and over 190% in the past twelve months, underscoring just how far and how fast the re‑rating has gone. ^[10]

Silver backdrop: the metal is finally the main character

Hecla’s surge didn’t happen in a vacuum. Silver has been one of 2025’s standout assets:

Silver futures recently traded around $64/oz, with a strong rally through the year. ^[11]
A December 2025 macro article on the “white metal” notes that silver has dramatically outperformed gold in 2025, driven by demand from solar, electric vehicles and broader electrification themes. ^[12]

For a company that now derives nearly half of its revenue from silver—about 48% of Q3 2025 revenue versus 41% in Q2, according to Hecla’s own November update—the macro tailwind is substantial. ^[13]

New Catalysts: S&P MidCap 400, Nevada Growth and ESG Credibility

Index inclusion: Hecla joins the S&P MidCap 400

On 8 December 2025, Hecla announced that it will be added to the S&P MidCap 400 Index, effective prior to the open of trading on 22 December 2025. ^[14]

S&P Dow Jones Indices chose Hecla not just on size (the index targets companies with market caps of roughly $8–22.7 billion) but also on qualitative factors such as sector representation, governance and market stability. Hecla will be the only precious‑metals producer in the index, something management describes as validation of its “world‑class silver‑focused mining company” strategy. ^[15]

Practically, S&P MidCap 400 membership tends to:

Increase index‑fund and ETF ownership.
Support better liquidity and narrower bid‑ask spreads.
Sometimes act as a short‑term buying catalyst as passive money adjusts.

Several recent trading‑desk oriented articles have explicitly tied Hecla’s autumn rally to index flows and anticipation of the upgrade in its benchmark status. ^[16]

Nevada: Polaris permit and high‑grade Midas discovery

Hecla has also been steadily re‑activating its Nevada platform, which had previously been scaled back due to cost issues:

In November, the U.S. Forest Service issued a Finding of No Significant Impact (FONSI) for Hecla’s Polaris Exploration Project in Nevada’s historic Aurora mining district, clearing exploration activities to begin in 2026. ^[17]
The company recently reported a high‑grade gold discovery at its Midas property and expansion of mineralization at both Keno Hill and Greens Creek, potentially lengthening mine lives and improving future production profiles. ^[18]

These exploration wins support the more bullish long‑term Hecla Mining stock forecasts that assume multi‑year production growth rather than a one‑off windfall from 2025’s silver spike.

ESG and reclamation: Leckie Award for Keno Hill work

On the environmental front, Hecla’s Elsa Reclamation and Development Corporation subsidiary received the 2025 Robert E. Leckie Award for Excellence in Environmental Stewardship from the Government of Yukon, recognizing its remediation work at the Keno Hill Silver District and engagement with local communities. ^[19]

In an industry where permitting and community acceptance can make or break project timelines, this type of recognition matters for de‑risking future expansions.

Record Q3 2025 Results: Cash, Cash Flow and Deleveraging

The immediate fundamental backdrop to HL’s December breakout is record third‑quarter 2025 earnings.

According to Hecla’s Q3 earnings release and investor materials: ^[20]

Revenue: Record $409.5 million, up about 35% vs. the prior quarter.
Net income:$100.6 million attributable to common shareholders (roughly $0.15 per share on a quarterly basis when reconciled with coverage that uses adjusted EPS). ^[21]
Adjusted EBITDA: About $196 million for the quarter and $506 million over the last 12 months.
Operating cash flow:$148 million in Q3.
Free cash flow:$90 million after capital spending—an important milestone for a capital‑intensive business.
Balance sheet: Net leverage ratio cut to 0.3x, down from 0.7x a quarter earlier, after fully repaying the revolving credit facility and continuing a partial redemption of 7.25% senior notes. ^[22]

Operationally, the quarter showed that each major mine can pull its weight:

Greens Creek (Alaska): Produced around 2.3 million ounces of silver in Q3 with extremely low (often negative, on a by‑product basis) cash costs per ounce and generated roughly $74.5 million of free cash flow. ^[23]
Lucky Friday (Idaho): Delivered 1.3 million ounces of silver and $13.5 million of free cash flow, despite higher all‑in sustaining costs (AISC) as underground work continues. ^[24]
Keno Hill (Yukon): Produced about 0.9 million ounces of silver and logged a second consecutive positive free‑cash‑flow quarter, even though it is still technically pre‑commercial as ramp‑up continues. ^[25]
Casa Berardi (Quebec): Added gold‑weighted cash flow with Q3 gold production above 25,000 ounces, while management works to reduce costs via pit sequencing and contractor demobilization. ^[26]

The combination of higher metal prices, improving mine productivity and tight capital discipline has pushed Hecla’s trailing‑twelve‑month revenue to about $1.22 billion and net income to nearly $199 million. ^[27]

Guidance and Growth Outlook for 2025–2026

Hecla’s November update and Q3 call tightened 2025 production guidance and confirmed that the company is leaning into high‑margin ounces rather than growth for growth’s sake. ^[28]

2025 production and costs

Across its operations, Hecla now expects:

Silver production:8.4–8.8 million ounces at Greens Creek alone, with consolidated silver (including Lucky Friday and Keno Hill) in the mid‑teens of millions of ounces. ^[29]
Gold production:53–55 thousand ounces from Casa Berardi and Greens Creek. ^[30]
Costs: Cash cost and AISC guidance largely reiterated, with Greens Creek at the bottom of the global silver cost curve and company‑wide cash costs heavily offset by by‑product credits. ^[31]

The November slide deck highlights that Hecla derived ~48% of Q3 revenue from silver and trades at roughly $3.44 per silver‑equivalent ounce of total resources, positioning it as one of the lowest‑cost and most silver‑leveraged mid‑cap producers in North America. Management argues this implies room for asset re‑rating if silver stays elevated. ^[32]

Street forecasts: revenue and earnings acceleration

Analyst models, compiled by several data providers, broadly expect:

Revenue 2025: About $1.33–1.34 billion, up more than 40% from 2024. ^[33]
Revenue 2026: Around $1.55 billion, implying ~16% further growth. ^[34]
EPS 2025: Approximately $0.37–0.38, up more than 5x versus 2024. ^[35]
EPS 2026: Around $0.79, more than doubling again over 2025 if estimates prove accurate. ^[36]

Intellectia and similar services also note that over the past three months:

2025 revenue forecasts have been revised up by ~18%, and
2025 EPS forecasts by ~24%,
while HL’s share price climbed roughly 65% over the same period—an indication that at least part of the rally is fundamental, not just speculative. ^[37]

Hecla Mining Stock Forecasts: What Wall Street Is Saying in December 2025

Despite Hecla’s explosive 2025 performance, most traditional Hecla Mining stock forecasts are cautious at current levels.

Price targets: below the current share price

Across several forecast aggregators as of 11 December 2025:

MarketBeat reports an average 12‑month HL price target of about $10.22, with a range from $5 to $16.50 and a consensus rating of “Hold” (2 Buy, 6 Hold, 1 Sell). ^[38]
StockAnalysis shows a similar picture: average target $11.14, implying roughly 40% downside from current prices, despite labeling the analyst consensus as “Buy.” ^[39]
Intellectia places the average 1‑year HL stock forecast at $14.08, with a low estimate of $10 and a high estimate of $16.50, and characterizes the aggregate rating as Hold (2 Buy, 3 Hold, 1 Sell). ^[40]
ValueInvesting.io uses a broader sample of 18 analysts and arrives at an average target of $14.84 (range $10.10–$17.32), also below the current share price, but lists the consensus recommendation as Buy because most individual ratings are either Buy or Strong Buy. ^[41]

The takeaway: almost all traditional price‑target frameworks say HL is trading above where they expected it to be, even after a wave of target upgrades in November following Q3 results and exploration updates. ^[42]

Diverging valuation views

Valuation opinions are sharply split:

StockAnalysis calculates a trailing P/E of about 59x and a forward P/E near 27x, multiples that are rich relative to many mining peers and to the broader market. ^[43]
A Simply Wall St DCF model pegs Hecla’s intrinsic value around $6.10 per share, implying the stock is close to 180% overvalued at recent prices and noting that HL fails several of its valuation “checks,” including price‑to‑earnings and price‑to‑book metrics versus sector averages. ^[44]
By contrast, Hecla’s own November presentation argues that the stock trades at about $3.44 per silver‑equivalent ounce of total resources and 1.77x net asset value (NAV)—an 8% premium to its peer group—positioning it as the “best value investment in the mid‑cap silver space” given its jurisdictional quality and reserve life. ^[45]

In simple terms: bullish models emphasize resource quality, silver leverage and growth, while bearish or cautious models focus on classic multiples and discounted‑cash‑flow math that treat the recent silver surge as potentially transitory.

HL Stock Analysis: Drivers, Risks and Technical Sentiment

Momentum and technicals

Momentum‑oriented services and trading desks are, unsurprisingly, more upbeat:

TipRanks’ AI‑driven “Spark” model currently rates HL as Outperform, citing strong financial performance, record earnings and significant debt reduction, while warning that valuation metrics suggest overvaluation and that free‑cash‑flow generation needs continued monitoring. ^[46]
Day‑trader‑focused sites such as StocksToTrade and Timothy Sykes’ platform frame Hecla as a high‑momentum silver play, highlighting the double‑digit price jumps following Q3 earnings and subsequent target upgrades as classic catalysts for active traders. ^[47]

Short‑term technical signals are broadly positive—HL is trading well above its 50‑day and 200‑day moving averages according to MarketBeat, which also notes the strong reaction to Q3 earnings (EPS beat and higher revenue). ^[48]

Insider activity: CFO share sale

One datapoint giving more cautious investors pause is November insider selling:

On 12 November 2025, Senior Vice President & CFO Russell Lawlar sold 148,372 shares of Hecla stock, for proceeds of about $2.23 million, according to a TipRanks insider‑trading report. ^[49]

Insider selling is common after a big run and can be driven by personal diversification or tax planning, so it isn’t automatically bearish. Still, for a stock that has tripled within a year, large insider sales tend to fuel the narrative that much of the easy upside has been realized.

How the Silver Cycle Shapes the Hecla Mining Stock Forecast

Hecla today is essentially a geared vehicle on the silver cycle:

Nearly half of revenue is now silver‑driven, and management has been very open about positioning HL as a silver‑first company. ^[50]
Silver prices have been buoyed by structural demand from solar, EVs, grid investment and electronics, plus classic safe‑haven buying in a volatile macro backdrop. ^[51]

If silver prices stay near current levels or move higher, the Street’s 2026 forecasts for revenue growth and EPS doubling could prove conservative. In that world, today’s seemingly stretched P/E might compress quickly as earnings “catch up” with the stock price.

If, however, silver prices mean‑revert lower, high‑beta names like Hecla are likely to see both margin pressure and multiple compression. That scenario is what more pessimistic DCF and price‑target models implicitly assume.

Key Risks to Watch

No Hecla Mining stock analysis is complete without the downside:

Commodity price risk
Hecla’s cash flows are highly sensitive to silver and gold prices. A reversal in the silver rally would hit both earnings and investor sentiment quickly.
Cost inflation and labor constraints
Industry‑wide, miners are wrestling with higher labor and input costs. Reuters has highlighted how rising all‑in sustaining costs (AISC) have squeezed margins at major gold miners; silver producers are not immune. ^[52]
Operational execution
- Keno Hill is still in ramp‑up, and any setbacks could affect the growth story. ^[53]
- Nevada projects like Polaris and Midas are promising but early‑stage; drilling success doesn’t always convert to low‑cost, long‑life mines.
Valuation and potential mean‑reversion
With HL trading dramatically above many published price targets and at rich earnings multiples, a re‑rating toward more typical mining valuations could mean substantial downside even if the business keeps performing reasonably well. ^[54]
Regulatory and ESG risk
While the Leckie Award and sustainability report underscore Hecla’s efforts, mining remains heavily exposed to permitting risk, local opposition and evolving environmental standards. ^[55]

Bottom Line: What December 2025 Tells Us About HL

As of 11 December 2025, Hecla Mining is a classic high‑beta, high‑expectations play on silver:

Fundamentals are objectively stronger than they were a year ago: record Q3 revenue and earnings, sharply higher cash flow, lower leverage, positive free cash flow from all core mines, a deep exploration pipeline and improving ESG credentials. ^[56]
Macro conditions are unusually favorable for silver, which has finally stepped out of gold’s shadow as the metal of choice for investors wanting both industrial and monetary exposure. ^[57]
Market perception has flipped: from an under‑owned silver miner in early 2025 to an S&P MidCap 400 constituent with heavy momentum and widespread retail and institutional interest. ^[58]

At the same time:

Many Hecla Mining stock forecasts on Wall Street imply 10–40% downside from current levels, even as their revenue and EPS estimates trend higher. ^[59]
Independent valuation work from platforms like Simply Wall St suggests the stock may be significantly overvalued on a discounted‑cash‑flow basis. ^[60]

For long‑term investors, the core question isn’t whether Hecla’s recent performance has been impressive—it clearly has—but whether today’s price already bakes in a sustained era of high silver prices and near‑flawless execution.

For now, HL sits at the intersection of fundamental improvement, macro tailwinds and very elevated expectations. That combination can fuel further upside in a roaring bull market—or magnify the eventual hangover when cycles turn.