What happened
Shares of Teck Resources (TECK -1.32%), a Canadian miner with material copper, zinc, and coal operations, rose sharply in early trading on April 27, gaining as much as 12% at the open. The big news was the company's first-quarter 2022 earnings report, which investors clearly liked.
So what
On the sales front, Teck reported first-quarter 2022 revenues of just over CA$5 billion, up from a little under CA$2.6 billion in the same stanza of 2021. That figure was a couple of percent higher than Wall Street analysts had been expecting. The biggest driver here was material year-over-year (YOY) commodity price increases across all the miner's major products. Copper prices were up 17% YOY, zinc was higher by 36%, and met coal rose a huge 173%.
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On the bottom line, Teck reported adjusted earnings of CA$2.96 per share, up massively from a profit of CA$0.61 in the first quarter of 2021. The miner easily bested analyst projections, as well, leading to a beat on both the top and bottom lines. Investors tend to like that type of news. Although management noted that it was facing inflationary pressures, notably on the labor front, commodity price increases clearly more than offset that headwind. All in all, it was a pretty good update.
Now what
Despite the strong first-quarter showing, Teck reiterated its previous full-year 2022 guidance. That might be a sign that management is worried that the current high commodity prices it is benefiting from won't last forever. This is probably a prudent stance, given the volatile nature of commodity markets. That said, the company continues to see solid progress on a big copper project slated to open later this year. And the board announced plans to buy back additional stock, returning some of the current windfall profit to investors. No wonder Wall Street was in a glass-half-full mood this morning.
