Forensic Analysis · Materials / Mining & Chemicals · as of Aug 11, 2026
Hecla Mining Co/De/ (HL)
A forensic read on Hecla Mining Co/De/ built from its complete SEC filings — financial-health screens, earnings quality, red flags and a price-aware rating. Reproducible math, not opinion.
C · Mixed — selective
Forensic grade
Safe
Financial health
14.1
Distress distance
Watch
Earnings quality
5
Forensic signals
40.8
P / E (ttm)
12.4%
ROE
$11.7B
Market cap
0.09%
Dividend yield
53.0%
Revenue growth
This free snapshot doesn't read filing or proxy text, so the auditor-quality and governance checks that can lower a grade were not evaluated (red flags, auditor quality, say on pay, board independence). Those checks only ever lower a grade, so the full analysis can land below the grade above but never above it — treat it as the most favourable reading, not the settled one.
Hecla Mining Co/De/ earns a C (Mixed — selective) forensic quality grade, and its balance-sheet distress test reads 14.1, placing it in the Safe zone. 5 forensic signals were flagged in its latest SEC filings, led by share-count dilution.
What the filings flag
+5.6%/yr
FY2022–FY2025
Share-count dilution.Diluted share count changed +18% over the last 3 years to FY2025 (+5.6%/yr). The count is growing: more stock was issued than repurchased over this window, so aggregate results grew faster than their per-share equivalents. That's ~5.6% shaved off per-share growth every year — total profit has to grow that much just to keep earnings-per-share flat, and a stake held since FY2022 has been diluted ~15%.
0.8% of rev
FY2025
Stock-based comp load.Stock-based compensation ran 0.8% of revenue and 4% of free cash flow in FY2025 — about $0.02 per diluted share. The cost of it is not in the cash flow — no cash left the business — it is in the count: holders gave up about 5.6% of the company a year, and that rate is not falling. That is the figure to weigh, not the share of free cash flow.
+13.8%
FY2024→FY2025
Accruals ratio (% of NOA).Net operating assets grew +13.8% relative to their own average in FY2025 — scaled by NOA itself, not total assets (see the Forensic Screens card's differently-scaled Sloan Accrual Ratio for that read). Accruals are building faster than is comfortable — part of profit is sitting in the balance sheet rather than turning to cash. The build is led by receivables up +440% against revenue +53% and inventory up +9% against +9% in cost of sales. The cash-flow cross-check is more mixed: reported earnings ran behind operating cash by 11% of net operating assets, diverging from the balance-sheet accrual read.
11.2%
FY2025
Return on invested capital.Return on invested capital is 11.2% in the latest fiscal year and rising from -0% — a modest positive spread over its ~8% cost of capital — growth adds value, though not dramatically.
Key fundamentals
Latest Revenue$1.42B
Revenue Growth YoY+53.0%
Revenue CAGR (3yr)+25.6%
Net Margin22.6%
Free Cash Flow$310.2M
Return on Equity12.4%
Debt / Equity0.00x
The forensic grade and screens above are free — no account needed. Want the AI investment read on top — the 0–100 rating, thesis, bull-vs-bear, red flags and the 12-month scenario, written from Hecla Mining Co/De/'s actual 10-K/10-Q/8-K filings?
Dividend — cut.The payout was CUT ~67% in FY2013 (from FY2011) and hasn't been restored since. It still returns some cash, but it is NOT the dependable, rising dividend an unbroken streak implies.