Investing in Silver Stocks

Silver is a unique precious metal. It's essential for many industrial applications and is the best electrical and thermal conductor of all metals, making it highly valued for electrical applications. Because of that, more than half of silver's demand comes from the industrial sector.

Silver is also highly valued by investors because it shares many of the same investment characteristics as gold. Silver is a safe-haven metal that can help investors hedge against inflation and weather an economic downturn. It can also help provide investors with more portfolio diversification. Here's a look at how to invest in silver without buying the physical precious metal.

Top stocks

Top silver stocks in 2025

Many companies in the metals sector mine silver. However, most mining companies focus on producing industrial metals, such as iron ore, copper, and aluminum, often producing silver as a byproduct.

Meanwhile, companies that mine precious metals tend to focus on gold. Consequently, although many companies mine some silver, it often contributes a relatively minor portion of their revenues. Although these factors limit the available silver investment options, a few top silver stocks stand out:

First Majestic Silver

1. First Majestic Silver

First Majestic is one of the purest plays on silver in the mining sector. The company expects to get more than 50% of its revenue from silver after closing its acquisition of Gatos Silver, which it agreed to buy for $970 million in 2024. That compares to about 30% on average for its silver-producing peers.

Although it's a Canadian company, First Majestic focuses on Mexico because it produces more silver than any country in the world. The company currently operates three mines in Mexico and has several others under development.

First Majestic also operates the Jerritt Canyon Gold Mine in Nevada. Acquiring Gatos Silver would give it a 70% interest in the Los Gatos joint venture, which owns the Cerro Los Gatos silver mine in Mexico. In addition, First Majestic owns and operates a minting facility, First Mint, which produces silver bars, ingots, coins, and medallions it sells to the public.

First Majestic's focus on producing silver positions it to outperform the price of the precious metal. It can increase production while reducing costs, which should grow profits faster than silver prices.

However, its business model also makes it vulnerable to operational problems and cost overruns. Mining issues, management missteps, and exposure to other commodities can weigh on the performance of a silver mining company's stock.

First Majestic believes it can be a long-term outperformer. It aims to become the world's largest primary silver producer and invests millions of dollars each year in finding and developing new silver mines. It has also spent heavily to acquire other silver mines.

Pan American Silver

2. Pan American Silver

Pan American Silver bills itself as the world's premier silver mining company. It controls the world's largest silver reserves, with 468 million ounces of proven and probable silver resources and 1.1 billion of measured and indicated resources. At 20.4 million ounces, it ranks as the second-largest silver producer.

The company has seven producing silver and gold mines across North and South America. It also has several silver growth catalysts, including potential projects at its La Colorada Skarn, Escobal, and Navidad mines.

Pan American Silver stands out for its rock-solid balance sheet. It has a strong financial position with lots of liquidity. In addition, its business generates free cash flow, enabling it to fund expansions while returning cash to investors via dividends and share repurchases. The combination of financial strength and long-term upside to silver makes Pan American Silver a potentially compelling option for investors.

Wheaton Precious Metals

3. Wheaton Precious Metals

Wheaton Precious Metals is a streaming company for precious metals. Instead of operating physical mines, Wheaton provides mining companies with cash to cover portions of their mine development costs. In exchange, the company receives the right to buy some of the metal produced by the mines at fixed prices. Its vision is to be the world's premier precious metals investment vehicle.

The company's portfolio features 18 operated mines and another 29 development projects. It gets more than 60% of its revenue from gold and more than 35% from silver, with the rest coming from palladium and cobalt. The company expects its production to rise 50% by 2028 as more of its partners' development projects come online and start producing.

Wheaton has the contractual right through 2028 to purchase silver for an average price of $4.70 per ounce. Any silver price above that level generates profit for the company.

The company's focus on streaming enables it to produce lots of cash. Wheaton uses the money to invest in new streams and pay dividends to shareholders. The company has a flexible dividend policy, paying out more than 25% of its revenue in dividends.

Wheaton's business model enables it to profit from rising silver prices like a mining company. However, it assumes fewer risks and potential cost overruns associated with physical mining, making it a lower-risk way to invest in precious metals like silver.

iShares Silver Trust

4. iShares Silver Trust

The iShares Silver Trust is an exchange-traded fund (ETF) that focuses on physical silver. The silver ETF aims to track the performance of the price of silver by owning silver bars stored in bank vaults in London and New York City.

Because the ETF holds physical silver, it tracks the price of the precious metal relatively closely. The chart below demonstrates how the price of iShares Silver Trust shares has changed with the price of silver.

The ETF has largely matched the price of silver over the long term. Investors get this solid performance for a reasonable cost since the fund's annual expense ratio is 0.5%, a good ETF expense ratio overall. It's a small price to pay to invest in silver without owning the precious metal or facing the operational risks of silver mining stocks.

Should I invest?

Is investing in silver stocks right for you?

The price of silver can be volatile, ebbing and flowing as economic, inflationary, and geopolitical fears rise and subside. Those catalysts affect the price of precious metals, mining stock prices, silver and gold ETFs, and cryptocurrencies.

However, silver's investment properties are only part of the story. As mentioned, silver is an important industrial metal. It's particularly essential for clean energy. The fast-growing solar energy and electric vehicle (EV) industries are two notable industrial demand drivers, so demand -- and prices -- for silver should grow in the coming years, making it a potential way to play the growth in clean energy.

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Most investors choose to own silver stocks rather than the physical metal, such as coins and bars. When the demand is rising, silver companies can often pursue growth opportunities enabling them to expand their profits faster than prices rise, allowing them to outperform the precious metal. Not owning the physical metal also enables investors to avoid the hassles and risks of acquiring, storing, and insuring a physical asset.

As a unique precious metal with industrial, consumer, and investor demand, silver is playing an increasingly important role in the economy. As a result, silver mining stocks and silver-focused ETFs could be attractive additions to many portfolios.

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