How much a stock's price changes over time is important for most investors, since price performance can both impact your investment portfolio and help you compare investment results across sectors and industries.
The fear of missing out, or FOMO, also plays a factor in investing, especially with particular tech giants, as well as popular consumer-facing stocks.
What if you'd invested in Wheaton Precious Metals Corp. (WPM) ten years ago? It may not have been easy to hold on to WPM for all that time, but if you did, how much would your investment be worth today?
Wheaton Precious Metals Corp.'s Business In-Depth
With that in mind, let's take a look at Wheaton Precious Metals Corp.'s main business drivers.
Wheaton Precious Metals is one of the largest precious metal streaming companies in the world that generates its revenues from the sale of precious metals and cobalt.
The company enters into purchase agreements (“PMPAs”) to purchase the entirety or a portion of the precious metals or cobalt production from mines located across the globe for an upfront payment and an additional payment upon the delivery of the precious metal or cobalt.
As of Dec. 31, 2025, Wheaton Precious Metals holds 48 long-term agreements, comprising 39 precious metal purchase deals, 3 early deposit agreements, and 6 royalties, spanning 23 operating mines, 22 development projects, and 3 mines which are closed or in care-and-maintenance.
Following the PMPAs, Wheaton Precious Metals acquires metal production from the counterparties for an initial upfront payment plus an additional cash payment for each ounce or pound delivered that is fixed by contract, generally at or below the prevailing market price. The company’s production profile is driven by the volume of metal production at its various mining assets.
The primary drivers of the company’s financial results are the volume of metal production at the various mines to which the PMPAs relate and the price realized by Wheaton Precious Metals upon the sale of the metals received.
The company offers investors leverage to increasing precious metals prices, a sustainable dividend payout as well as organic and acquisition growth opportunities.
Wheaton Precious Metals’ operating costs are contractually set at the time the stream is entered into, which enables investors to benefit from cost predictability and high margins amid rising metal prices.
Wheaton Precious Metals is focused on adding additional production capacity from high-quality accretive metals. Its business model focuses on reducing risk while leveraging higher commodity prices. The company continues to add streams which bring immediate production, as well as medium and longer-term growth to its portfolio of assets.
Bottom Line
Putting together a successful investment portfolio takes a combination of research, patience, and a little bit of risk. For Wheaton Precious Metals Corp., if you bought shares a decade ago, you're likely feeling really good about your investment today.
A $1000 investment made in April 2016 would be worth $8,791.07, or a gain of 779.11%, as of April 15, 2026, according to our calculations. This return excludes dividends but includes price appreciation.
Compare this to the S&P 500's rally of 234.52% and gold's return of 277.45% over the same time frame.
Going forward, analysts are expecting more upside for WPM.
Wheaton Precious Metals offers leveraged exposure to precious metals through a streaming model with contractually set costs and limited direct operating risk. Record 2025 results underscore the company's strong earnings power, driven by higher realized prices and rising volumes across key streams. Looking ahead, 2026 guidance points to increased GEO output, supported by contributions from the new Antamina stream and a well-diversified pipeline of brownfield expansions and greenfield developments. Offsetting this upside, the company's deliveries remain dependent on partner mine sequencing, ore grades and potential unplanned outages, while shipment timing can shift sales between reporting periods. Additionally, lower production at the Peñasquito and Constancia mines continues to act as a headwind for overall performance.
The stock has jumped 7.65% over the past four weeks. Additionally, no earnings estimate has gone lower in the past two months, compared to 5 higher, for fiscal 2026; the consensus estimate has moved up as well.
5 Stocks Set to Double
Each was handpicked by a Zacks expert as the #1 favorite stock to gain +100% or more in the coming year. While not all picks can be winners, previous recommendations have soared +112%, +171%, +209% and +232%.
Most of the stocks in this report are flying under Wall Street radar, which provides a great opportunity to get in on the ground floor.
Today, See These 5 Potential Home Runs >>Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report
Wheaton Precious Metals Corp. (WPM): Free Stock Analysis Report
This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).