Don’t Miss Out on This Silver Miner: First Majestic Silver Corp (AG), Silver Wheaton Corp. (USA) (SLW)

The Canadian silver mining company, First Majestic Silver Corp (NYSE:AG), operates in Mexico. It has four underground mines: La Encantada, San Martin, La Parrilla and Del Toro. La Encantada is the largest of all mines which produces more than half of the company’s production. The company produces and sells its own bullion bars and rounds.

Quarterly Earnings

Recently, First Majestic Silver Corp (NYSE:AG) announced its earnings for the fourth quarter, 2012. The company reported a 5% increase in its earnings, thanks to higher output and better silver prices. Earnings grew to $22.4 million or 19 cents a share versus $21.3 million or 20 cents a share last year. Revenues were up 17% to $71 million.

Production stood at 2.56 million silver equivalent ounces, 22% higher than the last year. For the year, production was up 20% to 9.1 million silver equivalent ounces. Cash costs grew 16% to $9.26 per ounce. As far as prices were concerned, average realized prices were up 2% to $32.42 per ounce.

Last week, the company lost its bid on acquiring the world’s largest underdeveloped silver mine, Orko Silver’s La Preciosa project, to Coeur d’Alene Mines. Coeur d’Alene agreed to pay $337 million for the project.

Forecast for 2013

In 2013, the company expects to produce 12.3 to 13 million ounce equivalent, an increase of 34% to 42% from 2012. In this quarter, analysts expect First Majestic Silver Corp (NYSE:AG) to earn $0.28 per share on revenues of $72.78 million. For the full year, analysts’ estimates stand at $1.40 a share on $422.52 million revenue.

Valuation

First Majestic Silver Corp (NYSE:AG) is trading at a forward P/E (1yr) of 8.10x and has a healthy PEG of 0.47. One of the hallmarks First Majestic Silver Corp (NYSE:AG) is its whopping operating margin of 43%. During the last five years, its operating margin has averaged close to 41%. A current ratio of 3.02 testifies company’s strong liquidity position. A mean recommendation of 1.7 on the sell side suggests that it’s one of the top buys in the silver industry. According to the sell side, it has a mean target price of almost $24, which shows that it’s undervalued by a mammoth 48%.