Hindustan Zinc shares rise 4% despite silver’s Rs 1.44 lakh crash in 3 days. Is this a buying opportunity?

Shares of Hindustan Zinc rose as much as 4.2% to their day's high of Rs 591 on the BSE on Monday even as Silver prices extended their decline for a third consecutive day. With today's fall in prices, the white metal has tumbled Rs 1.44 lakh over the same period.

In today's session, MCX Silver futures due March 5, 2026 were down Rs 10,000 or 3.7% Rs 2,55652 per 10 grams.

On the global stage, Hindustan Zinc ranks among the leading silver producers, with annual output of 22.5 million ounces — ahead of Grupo Mexico’s 12.1 million ounces and not far from top players such as Fresnillo at 52.5 million ounces and Newmont at 28 million ounces. The company also operates in the lowest quartile of the global zinc cost curve and has a mine life of about 25 years.


On Friday last week, MCX plunged up to 27% — or Rs 1,07,968 — in a single day, marking its worst ever crash and dragging prices back below the Rs 3 lakh mark, just a day after the metal had soared to a record high of Rs 4 lakh.

What should investors do?

In a recent report, HSBC upgraded the stock to Buy from Hold and raised its target price to Rs 750 per share. This implies an upside of 32% from current levels. The brokerage values Hindustan Zinc at 11x FY27E EV/EBITDA, up from 9.5x earlier, placing it at the higher end of its five-year trading range of 5–11x. The valuation reflects the company’s strong balance sheet and a stable-to-improving outlook for LME zinc and silver prices. “We see further earnings upside potential from spot LME zinc and silver prices,” HSBC said.

IIFL Capital, following the company’s Q3 earnings earlier this month, initiated coverage on Hindustan Zinc with an Add rating and a target price of Rs 712. The management maintained its silver volume guidance for FY26 at 680 tonnes (±10 tonnes). While cost of production stood at $940 per tonne in 3Q, full-year cost guidance remains at $950–1,000 per tonne, reflecting higher mine development activity and grade volatility.

For FY26, capex is guided at $700 million, split between $400 million for maintenance and $300 million for growth, with capex expected to rise further in FY27 and FY28 to support expansion.

Sensex, Nifty today: Catch all the LIVE stock market action here

Hindustan Zinc Q3 snapshot

The company reported its highest ever quarterly topline and bottom line growth in the December quarter, backed by a 4% YoY growth in its mined metal production. The Vedanta arm's consolidated net profit jumped 46% to Rs 3,916 crore compared to Rs 2,678 crore in the year ago period.

The company's total revenue from operations in Q3FY26 was also its highest-ever quarterly revenue at Rs 10,980 crore, up 27% from Rs 8,614 crore posted in the corresponding quarter of the last financial year.

Its mined metal production in the quarter under review stood at 276 Kt, remaining its highest-ever for the third quarter. It was up 7% QoQ growth.

Hindustan Zinc's promoter Vedanta also recently concluded an Offer For Sale (OFS) by selling up to 1.1% stake in its subsidiary to raise up to Rs 3,300 crore. The fall on Friday has taken the stock price below the OFS indicative price and the floor price as well.

(Disclaimer: Recommendations, suggestions, views and opinions given by the experts are their own. These do not represent the views of The Economic Times)