First Majestic Shifts Strategy to Prioritize Shareholder Returns

First Majestic Silver is placing a renewed emphasis on profitability, signaling a strategic pivot to its investors. The company has announced a formal policy to link its dividend directly to operational performance. This shift is supported by two key factors: an expanded production base following the Gatos Silver acquisition and a favorable market environment for silver. The central question for investors is the long-term sustainability of this new cash-return model.

Record Production and a Conservative Outlook

Operationally, First Majestic reported a record silver production of 15.4 million ounces for 2025, a figure bolstered by its recent acquisition activity. However, management has adopted a more conservative stance for the coming year, issuing a 2026 production forecast of 13.0 to 14.4 million ounces.

Financially, the company is entering the new year from a position of strength, holding a substantial $940 million in cash. Furthermore, plans are in place to increase processing capacity to 4,000 tonnes per day in the second half of 2026. This expansion is a tangible lever to boost future throughput and support earnings potential when market conditions are favorable.

A New Dividend Formula Tied to Revenue

The cornerstone of the company’s new shareholder return approach is a formalized dividend policy. First Majestic will now distribute 2% of its quarterly net revenue as a dividend. Applied to the fourth quarter of 2025, this formula results in a payout of $0.0083 per share.

The underlying logic is clear: as revenue—and ideally, margins—increase, shareholders will automatically receive a larger distribution. While this creates a dynamic payout, it also more tightly couples the dividend to the actual revenue generated in any given quarter, making it inherently variable.

Should investors sell immediately? Or is it worth buying First Majestic Silver?

Quarterly Results: A Mixed Picture with Strong Growth

The company’s fourth-quarter 2025 financial results presented a mixed bag relative to market expectations. On the bottom line, First Majestic delivered a positive surprise with earnings per share of $0.30, surpassing the analyst consensus estimate of $0.27.

Top-line revenue, however, fell short of forecasts. The company reported $463.9 million in revenue, which was below the anticipated $561.3 million. Despite this quarterly miss, the year-over-year growth remains striking, with revenue 169% higher than the prior-year period. This dramatic increase underscores how significantly recent expansion has lifted the company’s revenue base, even if the latest quarter did not meet the most optimistic analyst projections.

Market Reaction and Future Focus

The market has responded optimistically to these developments. The stock recently closed at €26.38, simultaneously reaching a new 52-week high.

Investor attention will now focus on two key execution points: whether First Majestic can successfully implement its planned capacity increase in late 2026 as scheduled, and if the new dividend formula will translate into meaningfully stable distributions in upcoming quarterly reports.