Financial Adviser: 5 Things to Know About Bernardo Villegas’ Benguet Corporation in 2025 and How to Profit from It
ILLUSTRATION: Igi Talao
The Philippine Stock Exchange Index (PSEi) has had a turbulent ride this year. Global economic uncertainty, exchange rate pressures, and volatility in commodity prices have weighed heavily on investor sentiment.
Blue-chip names in banking and property have delivered mixed results, and the mining and oil sector has also posted losses so far this year, roughly in line with the broader market.
Yet this pullback may offer investors a chance to revisit the sector, as natural resource companies remain vital to the Philippine economy and often regain strength when conditions turn more favorable.
Among the drivers of this potential opportunity is the steady strength in precious metals. Gold, in particular, remains a safe-haven asset in the face of geopolitical tensions and currency volatility.
Gold prices have reached near record highs in 2025, which traded above $3,500 per ounce for much of the year. For producers with proven reserves, this backdrop provides a powerful tailwind: revenue expansion without the need for aggressive capital spending.
Gold’s shine has also been reinforced by central bank demand, with many countries, including those in Asia, boosting reserves to protect against currency swings.
Nickel, another key Philippine export, has seen the opposite story. After surging in 2021 to 2022 on expectations of electric vehicle adoption and stainless steel demand, prices have cooled significantly due to oversupply from Indonesia.
Yet, the long-term structural case for nickel remains intact. Battery manufacturers continue to highlight the importance of nickel in high-energy-density applications, and the Philippines remains one of the world’s top suppliers of nickel ore. This dual exposure, precious metals as a defensive anchor, and base metals as a growth lever, gives the local mining industry a unique strategic advantage.
Within this space, legacy miners with decades of operational history often carry reputations that are difficult to shake. Some investors still recall the heavy debt burdens and operational setbacks that plagued companies in the past.
Yet in many cases, those same firms have quietly cleaned up their balance sheets, modernized their operations, and are now entering a new phase of growth.
One such name is Benguet Corporation (PSE: BC, BCB), the country’s oldest mining company. Established more than a century ago, Benguet has survived commodity booms and busts, regulatory challenges, and even a three-decade stretch of debt restructuring.
For years, it was largely ignored by the investing public, perceiving it as a relic of the past rather than a viable player in the modern mining landscape.
In recent years, though, Benguet Corp reached a turning point. Once overlooked for decades, it again showed strength and stability and stood as a serious contender in the mining sector. Yet the market has not recognized its true worth, and the stock remains one of the most undervalued names on the exchange.
The big question for investors is how to assess Benguet’s turnaround. Should we view it mainly as a gold and nickel play, or as a diversified mining company with broader growth potential?
How should investors weigh its renewed profitability and clean balance sheet against the market’s continued undervaluation? What metrics give the clearest signal of whether the stock deserves a re-rating?
To better understand why Benguet stands out as one of the most undervalued stocks in the PSE today, here are five important things to know about Benguet Corporation:
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1| Know how to recognize when a company moves from debt burden to financial freedom
For much of its modern history, Benguet Corp lived under the weight of debt. In the early 1990s, after years of financial strain, the company entered into a P1.4 billion restructuring program with its creditors. The agreement kept the company afloat, but it came with strict conditions.
For more than three decades, Benguet could not freely declare dividends, raise fresh borrowings, or reinvest aggressively in its projects without creditor approval. Cash generated from operations largely went to debt service, while shareholders went many years without returns.
Even during periods when gold and nickel prices were favorable, the company remained constrained by obligations and covenants that prioritized repayment over growth.
This long chapter closed only in 2024, when Benguet finally exited the restructuring and cleared its last bank borrowings. The company’s latest financials confirmed that loans payable had fallen to zero and showed no outstanding debt as of June 2025. For the first time in more than 30 years, the company stood debt-free.
The significance of this milestone goes beyond interest savings, which had grown to P7.4 million in 2024. More importantly, it removed the overhang that had long kept investors cautious.
Benguet was no longer a company in survival mode but one with financial flexibility. It also gave the company stronger resilience against commodity price swings, since management no longer had to meet debt obligations during downturns.
Most of all, it restored the link between profitability and shareholder returns. After decades of restrictions, Benguet rewarded its investors with a P0.20 per share cash dividend in December 2024 and a 25 percent stock dividend approved in August 2025 for the first time.
In short, the clean balance sheet repositioned Benguet Corp. From a company long associated with debt overhang and restructuring, it now stands as a mining company with stability and financial strength.
2| Know how to spot when earnings momentum signals a true turnaround
Benguet has staged one of the most dramatic earnings comebacks in the Philippine market. For the first half of 2025, net income soared to P624 million, more than double the P267 million earned in the same period of 2024.
This year, Benguet’s second quarter alone produced P370 million, up by 72 percent from P215 million a year earlier, which underscored that the momentum is accelerating.
Benguet’s nickel business accounted for the lion’s share of revenues and delivered the bulk of earnings growth. The Sta. Cruz Nickel Project in Zambales shipped 709,170 tons of ore in the first half of 2025, up from 537,000 tons a year earlier. Average realized prices rose to $37.62 per ton, compared with $30.92 per ton in 2024.
Gold, meanwhile, remains an important contributor. Benguet’s Acupan Gold Mine contributes about 20 percent of its total revenues. Although smaller in scale than nickel, gold provides a natural hedge, especially in times of geopolitical uncertainty and currency volatility. With global gold prices averaging above $2,300 per ounce this year, compared with an average of $1,950 in 2024, the outlook for Benguet’s gold operations remains favorable.
Analysts see global nickel demand staying strong, supported by stainless steel production and the continued rise of electric vehicle (EV) batteries. Although prices may ease slightly from the first-half highs, the consensus still points to averages above $30 to $32 per ton for 2025, a profitable level for Benguet.
With central banks still buying aggressively and investors treating gold as a hedge against currency volatility, the metal is expected to hold near record levels. Even a conservative range of $2,200 to $2,300 per ounce would support healthy margins for Benguet’s gold operations.
In 2024, Benguet earned P267 million in the first half and ended the year with P646 million in net income, which showed that the second half delivered nearly 60 percent of annual profits.
If the same pattern holds in 2025, when first half net income already reached P624 million, full-year earnings could climb to P1.5 billion or more. Even a flat second half would result in P1.2 billion in net income which is nearly double last year’s total.
3| Know how to connect balance sheet strength with shareholder value
Benguet Corp now stands on its strongest financial footing in decades, as shown clearly by its balance sheet and cash flow.
At the end of 2024, the company already displayed improving liquidity, with a current ratio of 5.74:1—which means it had more than five times the current assets needed to cover short-term obligations—and a quick ratio of 3.81:1, showing that even without relying on inventory it could pay its liabilities nearly four times over. Both figures were higher than the previous year.
By the first half of 2025, these figures had climbed further to 7.61:1 and 5.82:1, respectively. This surge reflects not only larger cash reserves—P2.49 billion as of June 30, 2025, compared with P1.75 billion at year-end 2024, but also the full removal of bank debt.
After decades of carrying loans tied to its restructuring program, Benguet reported zero loans payable at the close of 2024 and maintained that position through mid-2025. As a result, its debt-to-equity ratio eased from 0.19:1 in 2024 to just 0.16:1 in the first half of 2025, which leaves the company virtually unleveraged.
This balance sheet strength translated into higher returns. In 2024, return on equity (ROE) stood at 4.75 percent. By the first half of 2025, Benguet’s ROE had improved further to six percent, and when annualized, net income of P624 million against average equity of P9.5 billion implied a return of roughly 13.2 percent.
With no debt on its books, return on invested capital (ROIC) matches ROE, meaning Benguet is now producing double-digit returns purely on shareholder funds. This shows that profitability is now translating directly into stronger value creation.
The company’s cash flows confirm the same trend. In 2024, Benguet generated P360 million in operating cash flow, lower than the P537 million in 2023 and far below the P1.26 billion in 2022.
Yet by the first half of 2025, operating cash flow had surged to P779 million, compared with only P90 million in the same period of 2024. This dramatic improvement explains the sharp increase in cash balances and provides a strong cushion for future investments or dividends.
Taken together, these figures show that Benguet has moved far beyond the survival mode that characterized its debt-restructuring years. With high liquidity, negligible leverage, rising returns on equity and capital, and robust operating cash flows, the company has shifted into a position of true financial strength.
4| Know how to identify opportunities when multiples misprice a stock
Benguet Corp currently trades at levels that suggest the market has not yet caught up with its turnaround story. On virtually every valuation metric, the stock is priced at a steep discount compared with other listed mining companies on the Philippine Stock Exchange.
At a forward P/E multiple of just 4.8x, Benguet looks dramatically cheaper than Semirara Mining and Power (PSE: SCC), which trades at about nine to 10x earnings despite facing its own commodity price risks. This gap underscores how investors remain hesitant to re-rate Benguet, even though its earnings growth is outpacing peers.
If Benguet were valued at the same 10x PE ratio as SCC, its stock should trade at P10.38 per share—roughly double its current level. This highlights the massive upside potential once the market begins to re-rate the company in line with its peers.
The discount is even clearer on a balance sheet basis. Benguet’s price-to-book ratio sits at just 0.38x, with shares trading far below book value of P13.70 per share. In practical terms, the market values Benguet at less than half of what its net assets are worth, despite the company holding no debt and having posted some of its strongest profits in recent years.
Even if Benguet traded at a 10x PE ratio, which lifts its share price to P10.38, the stock would still be valued at only 76 percent of book value, or 0.76x P/B. That means Benguet would remain cheap relative to peers like SCC, which commands about 2.49x P/B. In other words, even after doubling in price, Benguet would still look like a bargain.
Looking at enterprise value multiples, Benguet’s EV/EBITDA ratio of 0.5x is among the lowest in the sector, which signals that the market is attaching little value to the company’s future cash-generating ability. For context, global mining companies often trade at several times EBITDA, even during downcycles.
Perhaps the clearest indicator of undervaluation lies in Benguet’s net-net current asset value (NCAV) position. This figure is derived by taking a company’s total current assets and subtracting all liabilities, not just the short-term ones. The result shows what would be left for shareholders if the company liquidated its current assets and paid off everything it owed.
For Benguet, as of June 30, 2025, current assets stood at P4.15 billion while total liabilities were only P1.59 billion. This produced an NCAV of about P2.56 billion, equal to roughly P3.57 per share.
The most striking proof of undervaluation is that this liquidation-based figure comes close to the company’s actual market price of around P5.19 per share. In effect, investors are valuing Benguet almost purely on its working capital and giving little or no credit to its mines, properties, or future profits.
The disconnect shows the market prices Benguet as if it were winding down, when in reality it has become one of the most financially secure and profitable miners on the exchange.
5| Know how to gauge the next move in a stock
Benguet Corp’s long-term chart shows a steep decline from 2012 to the 2019–2020 base that resembles a completed five-wave impulse down. This move likely marked the end of a cycle wave bear phase that dominated the stock for much of the past decade.
From the 2020 lows, the company appears to be building a corrective structure upward, which may be an A-B-C rally or the foundation of a new impulsive trend.
The rally in 2020–2021 carries the characteristics of a wave A advance, while the sideways to downward movement between 2021 and 2023 fits the profile of a wave B correction. The recent push above P5.00 in 2025 suggests the early stages of wave C, a move that often matches or surpasses wave A in size.
If this interpretation proves correct, Benguet could climb toward the P8–P10 area, with even higher potential if momentum builds.
If wave C extends strongly, the P10.00 level is the first likely target, followed by the P15.00 area. On the downside, P4.00 serves as a critical support.
