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NEXA, Nexa Resources S.A.

Metals & Mining capital-intensive Cyclical

A capital-intensive business, run on heavy physical assets that must be kept working and earn a return above what they cost to maintain.

Latest annual: FY2025 20-F · US listing is the ordinary share

NEXA · Nexa Resources S.A.

The business

What it sells, where the money comes from, the kind of company it is.

Revenue · FY2025

$3.0B

+8.5% YoY · 9% 5-yr CAGR

Vital signs · TTM, with 5-yr average

Revenue $3.0B 5-yr avg $2.8B

Gross margin 24% 5-yr avg 18%

Operating margin 16.6% 5-yr avg 9.9%

Owner-earnings margin 0% 5-yr avg 1%

Free cash flow margin 0% 5-yr avg −0%

The business in brief

read the 10-K →

What this business is and what moves its needle, from its own SEC filings.

Situation: Cyclical. Margins collapse and recover repeatedly across the record; a single year, good or bad, misstates the through-cycle earning power.
What moves the needle: Gross margin has run about 24% and operating margin about 10% through the cycle, a thin spread that turns the result on volume and the cost of what it sells far more than on the price it sets. The margin is cyclical, swinging between −20% and 17% over the years, so the through-cycle figure carries more than any single year — and the balance sheet at the trough more than the peak. Capital spending runs about 12% of sales, so the return earned on what it sinks into that plant weighs as much as the margin. On its own account, the filing leans hardest on customer concentration, set against the numbers in what the filing emphasizes, below.
Is it a good business?: Return on capital has rarely cleared the cost of capital (median −3%, above 15% in 0 of 5 years). Owner earnings, the cash-based check, have been thin too. The cycle and the balance sheet decide this one; the worst year tells more than the median, and the rest is in the 10-K.

Every line is arithmetic on the company's filings, shown in full in the sections below.

The record

Ten years of arithmetic, read across the cycle.

The record, 2016–2025

realized figures from each filing · older years to the left

2016’16	2017’17	2018’18	2019’19	2020’20	2021’21	2022’22	2023’23	2024’24	2025’25	TTMTTMDec 2025
											Income statement
$2.0B	$2.4B	$2.5B	$2.3B	$2.0B	$2.6B	$3.0B	$2.6B	$2.8B	$3.0B	$3.0B	RevenueRevenue
23%	28%	24%	—	19%	—	—	12%	19%	24%	24%	Gross marginGross mgn
$130M	$402M	$335M	($111M)	($398M)	$446M	$361M	($153M)	$276M	$498M	$498M	Operating incomeOp. inc.
6.6%	16.4%	13.4%	−4.8%	−20.4%	17.0%	11.9%	−5.9%	10.0%	16.6%	16.6%	Operating marginOp. mgn
$93M	$127M	$77M	($145M)	($559M)	$114M	$50M	($292M)	($205M)	$133M	$133M	Net incomeNet inc.
51%	46%	33%	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	Effective tax rateTax rate
											Cash flow & returns
$585M	$379M	$348M	$123M	$292M	$493M	$269M	$256M	$351M	$365M	$365M	Operating cash flowOp. cash
$275M	$270M	$267M	$318M	$244M	$259M	$287M	$298M	$330M	$289M	$298M	DepreciationDeprec.
$217M	($18M)	$3M	($50M)	$607M	$637M	$506M	$847M	$226M	($57M)	$531M	Working capital & otherWC & other
$181M	$198M	$300M	$397M	$324M	$485M	$382M	$310M	$259M	$352M	$352M	CapexCapex
9.2%	8.1%	12.0%	17.0%	16.6%	18.5%	12.6%	12.1%	9.4%	11.7%	11.7%	Capex / revenueCapex/rev
$404M	$181M	$48M	($274M)	$48M	$180M	($114M)	($54M)	$92M	$13M	$13M	Owner earningsOwner earn.
20.6%	7.4%	1.9%	−11.7%	2.4%	6.9%	−3.7%	−2.1%	3.3%	0.4%	0.4%	Owner earnings marginOE mgn
$404M	$181M	$48M	($274M)	($32M)	$8M	($114M)	($54M)	$92M	$13M	$13M	Free cash flowFCF
20.6%	7.4%	1.9%	−11.7%	−1.6%	0.3%	−3.7%	−2.1%	3.3%	0.4%	0.4%	Free cash flow marginFCF mgn
$60M	$62M	$3M	$113M	$56M	$52M	$68M	$24M	$16M	$34M	$34M	Dividends paidDiv. paid
2%	8%	—	-3%	-15%	—	—	-5%	—	—	—	ROICROIC
3%	5%	3%	-7%	-41%	8%	3%	-24%	-25%	13%	13%	Return on equityROE
1%	3%	3%	−12%	−45%	4%	−1%	−26%	−27%	10%	10%	Retained to equityRetained/eq
											Balance sheet
$1.0B	$1.2B	$1.1B	$757M	$1.1B	$763M	$516M	$468M	$640M	$522M	$522M	Cash & investmentsCash+inv
$120M	$183M	$173M	$177M	$229M	$231M	$224M	$142M	$141M	$229M	$229M	ReceivablesReceiv.
$292M	$325M	$270M	$295M	$257M	$373M	$395M	$340M	$325M	$414M	$414M	InventoryInvent.
$412M	$508M	$443M	$472M	$486M	$604M	$619M	$482M	$466M	$643M	$643M	Operating working capitalOper. WC
$1.6B	$1.8B	$1.7B	$1.4B	$1.7B	$1.5B	$1.2B	$1.1B	$1.2B	$1.3B	$1.3B	Current assetsCur. assets
$876M	$768M	$652M	$699M	$877M	$989M	$899M	$1.1B	$1.1B	$1.5B	$1.5B	Current liabilitiesCur. liab.
1.8×	2.4×	2.6×	2.0×	2.0×	1.5×	1.4×	1.0×	1.1×	0.9×	0.9×	Current ratioCurr. ratio
$6.2B	$6.0B	$5.7B	$5.5B	$5.1B	$4.9B	$4.9B	$4.9B	$4.6B	$5.3B	$5.3B	Total assetsAssets
$1.1B	$1.4B	$1.4B	$1.5B	$1.9B	$1.7B	$1.6B	$1.6B	$1.7B	$1.7B	$1.7B	Total debtDebt
$49M	$181M	$268M	$718M	$757M	$890M	$1.1B	$1.1B	$1.1B	$1.1B	$1.1B	Net debt / (cash)Net debt
1.8×	3.8×	2.8×	-0.9×	-2.5×	3.1×	2.1×	-0.7×	1.1×	1.6×	1.6×	Interest coverageInt. cov.
$2.8B	$2.5B	$2.5B	$2.1B	$1.4B	$1.4B	$1.4B	$1.2B	$814M	$1.0B	$1.0B	Shareholders’ equityEquity
											Per share
121M	117M	133M	133M	132M	132M	132M	132M	132M	132M	132M	Shares out (diluted)Shares
$16.23	$21.02	$18.69	$17.59	$14.73	$19.80	$22.91	$19.43	$20.89	$22.67	$22.67	Revenue / shareRev/sh
$0.77	$1.09	$0.58	$-1.09	$-4.22	$0.86	$0.38	$-2.20	$-1.55	$1.00	$1.00	EPS (diluted)EPS
$3.34	$1.56	$0.36	$-2.06	$0.36	$1.36	$-0.86	$-0.41	$0.70	$0.10	$0.10	Owner earnings / shareOE/sh
$3.34	$1.56	$0.36	$-2.06	$-0.24	$0.06	$-0.86	$-0.41	$0.70	$0.10	$0.10	Free cash flow / shareFCF/sh
$0.49	$0.53	$0.03	$0.85	$0.42	$0.40	$0.52	$0.18	$0.12	$0.26	$0.26	Dividends / shareDiv/sh
$1.49	$1.70	$2.25	$2.99	$2.44	$3.66	$2.89	$2.34	$1.96	$2.66	$2.66	Cap. spending / shareCapex/sh
$23.53	$21.34	$18.58	$15.91	$10.40	$10.47	$10.89	$9.04	$6.15	$7.57	$7.57	Book value / shareBVPS

Share counts before 2017 are restated ×1.5 for a stock split, so per-share figures sit on one basis.

Per-share growththe realized rate an owner's share compounded

	9-yr	5-yr
Revenue / share	+3.8%/yr	+9.0%/yr
Owner earnings / share	−32.4%/yr	−22.8%/yr
EPS	+3.0%/yr	—
Dividends / share	−6.9%/yr	−9.3%/yr
Capital spending / share	+6.6%/yr	+1.7%/yr
Book value / share	−11.8%/yr	−6.1%/yr

The record, charted

FY2016–2025

Each measure over its full record; the current point and the worst year marked. Share counts on the current split basis.

Share count

132Mpeak FY2018

ROIC

−5%low FY2020

Gross margin

24%low FY2023

Net debt ÷ owner earnings

86.3×peak FY2025

Owner earnings vs. net income

Owner earningsNet income

The accountant's number, and the cash an owner can take; the gap is the tell.

$13Mowner earningsvs.$133Mnet incomelow FY2019

Where the cash went

ReinvestBuybacksDividendsAcquisitionsRetained

Each year's operating cash, by what management did with it: the mix, and how it drifts.

FY2016FY2025

Owner-earnings bridge

FY2021–FY2025cash-flow statement, SEC EDGAR →

Net income is the accountant's number; owner earnings is the cash an owner could take out. The walk between them, off the cash-flow statement, and whether the gap is widening or holding.

In fiscal 2025 the business reported $133M of profit but $13M of owner earnings: $120M less than the profit line, taken out by capital spending and the timing of cash.

Reported net income$133M

Owner earnings$13M · 0% of revenue

	FY2025	FY2024	FY2023	FY2022	FY2021
Reported net income	$133M	($205M)	($292M)	$50M	$114M
Depreciation & amortizationnon-cash charge added back	+$289M	+$330M	−$298M	−$287M	−$259M
Working capital & othertiming of cash in and out, other non-cash items	−$57M	+$226M	+$847M	+$506M	+$637M
Cash from operations	$365M	$351M	$256M	$269M	$493M
Maintenance capital expenditurethe spending needed just to hold position and volume	−$352M	−$259M	−$310M	−$382M	−$313M
Owner earnings	$13M	$92M	($54M)	($114M)	$180M
Growth capital expenditurediscretionary; spent to get bigger, not to stand still	—	—	—	—	−$172M
Free cash flow	$13M	$92M	($54M)	($114M)	$8M
Owner-earnings marginowner earnings ÷ revenue	0%	3%	-2%	-4%	7%

Owner earnings is the cash an owner could pull out without starving the business: operating cash less the capital it must spend to hold its position .

Maintenance capex is estimated as depreciation where a growing business invests above it; free cash flow is the figure the scorecard's free-cash margin reads.

III

Quality & stewardship

Returns, the balance sheet, capital allocation, and pay.

Owner’s Scorecard

FY2025 20-F · source on SEC EDGAR →

Will it survive?

Can it pay its interest? 1.6×

Thin

Operating income $498M ÷ interest expense $306M

What this means
Operating profit covers interest, but with little room. A bad year, a refinancing at higher rates, or a revenue wobble closes the gap fast.
How heavy is the debt, net of cash? $1.1B · 2.3× operating profit

Meaningful net debt

Cash $516M + ST investments $6M − debt $1.7B

What this means
Netting $522M of cash and short-term investments against $1.7B of debt leaves $1.1B owed, about 2.3× a year's operating profit (3.3× on the gross debt, before the cash). Net debt is the leverage figure that matters: the cash is already set against the debt. Strategic or illiquid investments aren't counted here.
How long is cash tied up? —

Not enough data

What this means
The filing data didn't include the inputs for this check.

Is it a good business?

Return on invested capital -3%

Below average through the cycle

5-yr median, range -15%–8%; the latest year is left out — large non-operating charges put its operating line well above pretax profit

Industry peers: median 4%

What this means
The rate the business earns on the money tied up in it, Buffett's north star, because over time a stock tracks the ROIC beneath it. Above ~15% sustained hints at a moat; a return below the cost of capital (~8%) erodes value as a business grows rather than building it — the test Buffett weighs most. The headline is the median of the last 5 years, so one peak or trough year doesn't set the verdict. Asset-light businesses (R&D expensed, little capital) read artificially high, pair this with Owner Earnings.
Owner-earnings margin 2%

Thin through the cycle

10-yr median margin, range -12%–21%; latest $13M = operating cash $365M − maintenance capex $352M

Industry peers: median 9%

What this means
What an owner could take out without starving the business: operating cash less the maintenance capital it must spend to hold its position — Buffett's owner earnings. That's 0% of revenue this year, a 2% median across 10 years.
Are earnings backed by cash? 2.75×

Cash-backed

Cash from ops $365M ÷ net income $133M

What this means
How much of reported profit showed up as operating cash. Above 1× is reassuring; well below suggests earnings lean on accruals. One year is noisy, growth and working-capital swings distort it, and this is operating cash, not free cash. Watch the multi-year trend.

How is the cash used?

Where do the earnings go? 262%

Returned more than it generated

Dividends + buybacks $34M ÷ Owner Earnings $13M

What this means
The company returned more than it generated: against $13M of Owner Earnings, $34M (262%) went back to shareholders, $34M dividends, $0 buybacks — the excess came from the balance sheet or borrowing, not the year's operations. Sustained, that pattern draws down cash or adds debt; the net-debt line above shows where it stands.
Investing or harvesting? -1.18×

Harvesting

Capex $352M ÷ depreciation ($298M)

What this means
Descriptive, not a grade. Above ~1× means investing faster than assets wear out (growth, or, sustained for years, today's earnings carrying less depreciation than tomorrow's will). Below means spending less than it's wearing out (efficiency, or a melting asset base). The ratio won't tell you which; the filings will.

Graham’s defensive tests · 2 of 6 met

Graham’s numerical criteria for the defensive investor (The Intelligent Investor, ch. 14), run on the filings. A floor of safety, not a buy signal; many fine modern businesses fail his strictest liquidity rules by design.

Adequate size Pass

Revenue ≥ $2B · $3.0B

What this means
Big enough to weather a storm. Graham's 1972 floor was ~$100M of sales (≈ $700M today); we use a $2B revenue line as a conservative modern stand-in.
Strong liquidity Miss

Current ratio ≥ 2× · 0.87×

What this means
Current assets at least twice current liabilities, near-term bills covered without touching the business. Strict by design: many cash-rich modern firms run leaner and miss it, holding their cushion in longer-dated securities.
Conservative debt Miss

Debt ≤ working capital · $1.7B vs ($195M) WC

What this means
Graham's rule that borrowings not exceed net current assets. Capital-heavy and buyback-heavy firms routinely fail it, read it next to interest coverage, not alone.
Earnings stability Miss

A profit every year (10-yr record) · 4 loss years

What this means
Graham wanted earnings in each of the past ten years, the stability a defensive owner leans on.
Dividend record Pass

Uninterrupted dividends · paid every year (10)

What this means
An unbroken dividend was Graham's mark of durability. He wanted twenty years; the filings show about ten, and a single suspension breaks the streak. Non-payers, many fine modern compounders, fall outside his defensive net by design.
Earnings growth Miss

Earnings +33% over the record · −223%

What this means
At least a third more earnings than a decade ago, averaging three years at each end. Net income (not per-share), so stock splits don't distort it, buybacks and dilution show up in the share-count line instead.
Moderate price —

P/E ≤ 15 and P/E × P/B ≤ 22.5 · decided by the price

What this means
Graham's valuation gate, the wall he kept between a sound business and a sound investment. Three-year average earnings are $-0.92/share (latest year $1.00), the averaged base the calculator's gate runs on, and book value is $7.57/share. Enter a price in “What the price implies” just below for the P/E, P/B, and whether it clears. But this is the rule Buffett outgrew: there's no hard P/E law, and a wonderful business can deserve a far richer multiple if the thesis holds, treat it as the bargain-hunter's floor, not a verdict on the price.

Durability & moat, 2016–2025

Whether the record’s returns held, and what the capital reinvested earned.

Profitable years 6 of 10

What this means
Lost money in 4 year(s), look at what happened there before trusting the average.
Return on capital ≥ 15% 2 of 10 yrs

What this means
A moat shows up as a high return on invested capital that holds year after year, not one good vintage.
Operating margin 12% → 7% (3-yr avg ends)

In the filing’s words The filing ties gains to its own pricing, but names price competition too — pricing power that is real yet contested, not unopposed. The margin shows who is winning.

What this means
The recent-years average (7%) sits below the early years (12%), but the latest year (17%) is back near the early level: a cyclical trough dragging the window down, not a one-way slide. The through-cycle median is 10% — read it across the cycle, not on the dip.
Reinvestment, incremental ROIC returns capital

What this means
The capital base barely grew: this business returns cash through dividends and buybacks rather than reinvesting. Judge it on the cash returned, not on compounding.
Owner earnings growth −17%/yr

What this means
Owner earnings shrank about 17% a year over the record.
Worst year 2020 · −20.4% op. margin

What this means
Operations went underwater in 2020, understand why before trusting the good years.
Share count +5.7%/yr

What this means
The share count is rising, dilution works against you on a per-share basis.
Dividend record paid

What this means
Paid a dividend in 10 of the years on record.

Does AI threaten the moat?

Low contestability

The moat is physical, regulated or balance-sheet-funded, the kind AI cuts costs within but does not contest.

In its own filing A competitive risk, new this year

Its FY2025 10-K names artificial intelligence as a competitive threat, in language that was not in the prior year's filing.

“At the same time, despite our best efforts, failure to adopt new technologies, such as AI, as efficiently or as quickly as our competitors may adversely affect our competitiveness and, consequently, the results of our operations. 21 Risk Factors Health, safety and environmental risks The failure of a tailings dam could…”

AI is unlikely to contest a moat that is physical, regulated or balance-sheet-funded; here it reads more as a cost tool than a threat, and the company is using it that way.

Read from the filing's own risk factors, paired with the industry's structure under its SIC code; the durability is read above, the price below.

All figures as filed; the source filing is linked above.

Current Position

as of fiscal year-end, Dec 31, 2025

Can the business pay what it owes this year, off the freshest balance sheet: the quality of the assets, the debt actually coming due, and what a low ratio means here.

Current assets$1.3B

Cash & short-term investments$522M
Receivables$229M
Inventory$414M
Other current assets$108M

Current liabilities$1.5B

Other current liabilities$1.5B

Current ratio0.87×all current assets ÷ what's due · Graham looked for 2×

Quick ratio0.58×stricter: inventory excluded

Cash ratio0.36×strictest: cash alone against what's due

Working capital($195M)the cushion left after near-term bills

Deeper floors

Tangible book value$907Mequity stripped of goodwill & intangibles

Net current asset value($2.7B)Graham's net-net: current assets less all liabilities

Debt incl. operating leases$1.7B$44M of it operating leases

Deferred revenue$18Mcustomer cash collected before delivery; operating float

From the company's latest filing.

How the cash was used, 2016–2025

Over the record, the business generated $3.5B of operating cash; how management split it reads as a reinvestor, most operating cash is plowed back into the business.

Reinvested$3.2B · 92%
Dividends$488M · 14%
Buybacks$9M · 0%

Returned to owners$498M
95% of the owner earnings the business produced over the span, $488M as dividends and $9M as buybacks.
Source of funding−$225M
Reinvestment and shareholder returns ran $225M beyond the operating cash the business generated, so the gap was financed off the balance sheet: debt rose from $1.1B to $1.7B, and cash and short-term investments drew down $511M.
Average price paid for buybacks—
Buybacks ran $9M over the span, but the filings don't tag the share count needed to deduce the average price paid.
Net change in share count9.4%
The diluted count rose from 121M to 132M: issuance (stock pay, deals) outran any buybacks, so owners were diluted on net.
Dividend record$0.26/sh
Paid in 10 of the years on record, the per-share dividend shrinking about 7% a year. It was cut at least once along the way.

Buybacks are gross of stock issued to staff; the share-count line above is the net of that, the figure that decides whether owners gained. The average price paid blends a year of purchases (and any accelerated repurchase), so it is close, not exact. The record of where the cash went and on what terms.

Inverting the record

Invert: instead of why Nexa Resources S.A. is a good business, the question is what would make owning it a mistake, and whether those marks are in the record. Disconfirming tests across 2016–2025.

3 of the 4 tests turned up something to look into; the other 1 came back clean.

Look hereIs it less profitable than it was?0.6% vs 10.0%
The owner-earnings margin averaged 10.0% early in the record and 0.6% across the last three years, and the latest year has not recovered. Ask the filing whether that is a structural drift or a cyclical trough — price, mix, cost, or a competitor — and whether it is permanent.
Look hereDid the share count rise anyway?9.4%
Diluted shares grew 9.4% over 2016–2025, even as the company spent $9M on buybacks. The repurchases were outrun by issuance — to staff, in a raise, or in a deal — and the filing says which; owners' slice still shrank. Read the buyback line beside this one, not on its own.
Look hereDid debt outgrow the business?$1.1B → $1.7B
Debt rose from $1.1B to $1.7B while owner earnings went from about $211M to $17M — about 5.1 years of owner earnings in debt then, about 96 now: measured against what the business earns, the balance sheet carries more debt than it did. Debt raised for buybacks or deals rather than growth is the kind that bites in a downturn.

And these came back clean

Did receivables and inventory outpace sales?

Each test is read from the filings and is noisy alone; a flag can mark a cyclical trough or a year of heavy investment as easily as a problem. The filing says which.

Peers, Metals & Mining

The same industry, side by side on owner economics. Each figure is a through-cycle median, so a peak or trough year can’t distort it; the group median at the foot is the line to read each against.

Company	Revenue	Gross margin	Op. margin	ROIC	Owner earn. margin
FCXFreeport-McMoRan Inc.	$25.2B	29%	25.5%	15%	13%
NEMNewmont Corporation	$22.7B	—	12.0%	4%	19%
CLFCleveland-Cliffs	$18.6B	14%	8.4%	16%	9%
SCCOSouthern Copper Corporation	$13.4B	52%	41.5%	18%	24%
NEXANexa Resources S.A.	$3.0B	23%	10.9%	-3%	2%
CDECoeur Mining Inc.	$2.1B	79%	4.3%	2%	2%
MPMP Materials	$224M	—	-10.4%	-4%	-3%
MUXMcEwen Inc.	$198M	77%	-43.0%	-9%	-7%
Group median	—	41%	9.7%	3%	5%

The price

What a price has to assume.

What the price implies

reverse-DCF

Enter the US price, in dollars: the NYSE/Nasdaq quote you hold. Nexa Resources S.A.'s US listing is the ordinary share itself. The record tables elsewhere on this page remain as filed.

Type today's close and see the owner-earnings growth you'd have to believe to justify it, beside what Nexa Resources S.A. has delivered.

Today’s price $

Through the cycle, Nexa Resources S.A. earns about $66M on its 2.2% median owner-earnings margin. This year’s 0.4% margin runs below that; the reported figure may understate a lean year. Normalize, below, values the price on that through-cycle figure rather than the latest year.

Base Normalize · through-cycle ($66M) Net of stock comp

—

The assumptions Required return 9% Years of high growth 10 Terminal growth 2.5%

9.0% = the 4.55% 10-year Treasury (Jul 15, 2026) + 4.45 points of equity premium. The rate you require is yours to set.

Enter a price above to run it.

Implied by the price—

Owner-earnings growth · ’21→’25+12%/yr

Owner-earnings growth · ’16→’25−17%/yr

Owner-earnings yield—

P/E (3-yr earnings ’23–’25)—

P/B—

Graham’s price gate—

Graham capped the multiple at 15×; Buffett and Munger let that rule go: a wonderful business can deserve 50× if the thesis holds. The gate marks the bargain-hunter's floor.

Against a high-grade bond: Graham’s yardstick bond yield%

Prefilled with the 10-year Treasury (4.55%, as of Jul 15, 2026). Edit it for today’s exact figure, or a AAA corporate yield.

Graham measured a stock against the bond you could own instead, the heart of his margin of safety. Enter a price above to weigh the owner-earnings yield against this bond.

Owner earnings $13M on 132M shares outstanding, per the 20-F cover, as of 2025-12-31; net debt $1.1B. The base is the latest year by default; Normalize values it on the through-cycle median owner-earnings margin (to avoid paying on a peak year). Net of stock comp treats option pay as the expense it is. The dials set the multiple a growth belief justifies; the price, and every dollar on this page, is yours.

Weigh NEXA against another business →

Cite: Owner Scorecard, "Nexa Resources S.A. (NEXA), the owner's record," https://ownerscorecard.com/c/NEXA, data as of 2026-07-09.

Manual order: ← NEGG its page in the Manual NEXN →

Industry order: ← MSB the Metals & Mining chapter NX →