NEXA vs SCCO: Which Is the Better Buy in 2026?

Same yardstick, side by side (as of August 2026). Valuation lined up like this is most meaningful for two names in the same corner of the market, which these are. Figures are approximate; verify before investing.

Reading it: NEXA is the cheaper of the two on forward earnings, but cheaper is not the same as better. Pair the valuation with growth (how far the forward P/E sits below the trailing P/E) and risk (beta) before you decide.

The metrics above tell you which is the marginally better business. The bigger risk for most people is not picking the slightly worse stock, it is over-concentrating. NEXA and SCCO share themes, so owning both, or adding either to what you already hold, can quietly push a large share of your portfolio into one bet.

This is the part a generic comparison page cannot answer, because it depends on what you own. Connect your brokerage and Walnut shows your real, combined NEXA and SCCO exposure, flags overlap with your existing positions, and tells you if adding one would tip you past a concentration you are comfortable with, read-only by default, with your login staying at your broker. Walnut is not an investment adviser.

Nexa Resources S.A. is an integrated zinc business incorporated in Luxembourg, headquartered operationally in Brazil and Peru, and reporting in US dollars under IFRS. It runs five mines: Cerro Lindo, El Porvenir and Atacocha in Peru (the latter two forming the Cerro Pasco Complex) plus Vazante and Aripuanã in Brazil. Cerro Lindo and Vazante both sit among the world's thirty largest zinc-producing mines. It also owns three smelters, Cajamarquilla in Lima (the only operating zinc smelter in Peru and the fifth largest globally by volume), plus Três Marias and Juiz de Fora in Minas Gerais, which are the only units of their kind in Latin America excluding Mexico. Zinc accounted for ~46.9% of mined metal production in 2025 on a zinc-equivalent basis, with copper, lead, silver and a little gold produced as by-products that get credited against cash cost. The two segments are structurally different businesses: mining sells concentrate and earns the metal price, while smelting buys concentrate and earns a conversion spread, and in the second quarter of 2026 Nexa's own mines supplied ~54% of smelter feed.

Full NEXA guide

Southern Copper (SCCO) is one of the largest integrated copper producers in the world, with operations concentrated in Peru and Mexico. The company mines, smelts, and refines copper and produces meaningful byproduct volumes of molybdenum, zinc, silver, and other metals, which help offset costs. Southern Copper is known for very large, long-life ore reserves and among the lowest cash costs in the industry, a structural advantage that lets it stay profitable across much of the commodity cycle. It is majority owned by Grupo Mexico, a large Mexican mining and infrastructure conglomerate, which influences capital allocation and strategy. The investment case is closely tied to the price of copper, a metal central to electrification, electric vehicles, renewable power, grid buildout, and construction. Southern Copper pursues a pipeline of expansion and greenfield projects to grow output over time, though large mining projects carry permitting, environmental, and social-license risk, particularly in Peru. Headquartered in Phoenix, Arizona, with primary operations in Latin America, SCCO is a high-dividend, commodity-leveraged miner whose results rise and fall with copper prices.

Full SCCO guide

Both fit overlapping themes, but they are not interchangeable. The useful comparison is which set of drivers and risks you want exposure to.

• NEXA drivers: Zinc and silver prices are doing most of the work; Volume recovery is the internal story for the second half.
• SCCO drivers: Low-cost, long-life reserves; Leverage to the copper demand thesis.

A faster-growing, richer-valued name usually swings harder, so it suits a longer horizon and a higher tolerance for volatility; a steadier, more cash-generative business suits a more conservative or income-minded investor. The honest test is which set of risks you could hold through a drawdown: The dominant risk is that essentially all of the 2026 improvement traces to metal prices Nexa does not set: a reversion in zinc toward the ~$2,850 per tonne assumption that underlies its own cost guidance, or in silver from ~$73 per ounce, would compress a business whose smelting segment still earned only a ~11.4% Adjusted EBITDA margin in the quarter. For SCCO, southern Copper's earnings and dividend swing with the price of copper, a volatile commodity sensitive to global growth, China demand, and the dollar, so a copper downturn hits results directly.

Growth-minded investors who believe the theme has years to run tend to accept the richer multiple for more upside; value-minded investors lean toward the cheaper forward earnings and steadier profile. Pick NEXA if you believe its drivers more; SCCO if you believe its. Many investors hold both, but since they share themes, that is a concentrated bet, not diversification. Decide deliberately and check overlap. For the full detail, see the NEXA and SCCO guides.

NEXA. Figures are approximate, stamped to August 2026, and drawn from the second-quarter 2026 earnings release filed on Form 6-K on August 5, 2026, the fiscal 2025 Form 20-F, and market data as of the August 21, 2026 close, so live data is worth checking before acting on any of them. Nexa reports in US dollars under IFRS, so no currency translation is needed to read the headline numbers, though Brazilian real movements still flow through the Brazilian cost base. Two mechanical points shape the multiples above: the trailing earnings figure benefits from metal prices well above the company's own guidance assumptions (~$2,850 per tonne zinc, ~$42.0 per ounce silver), and only ~46.8 million of the ~132.44 million shares trade publicly, so the market capitalization is set by a float worth roughly ~$720 million.

SCCO. Southern Copper's valuation moves with the copper price and the commodity cycle, and its dividend can vary with earnings rather than being fixed. The market often awards it a premium to peers for its low costs and long-life reserves, while applying a discount for political and concentration risk in Peru and Mexico and the Grupo Mexico ownership structure. Figures are approximate and move with copper prices and results; verify current revenue, P/E, and yield.

Headline figures (approximate, August 2026): NEXA shows revenue (ttm) ~$3.46 billion trailing twelve months, up ~24% versus ~$3.00 billion in fiscal 2025 and ~$2.77 billion in 2024; second-quarter 2026 net revenues ~$908 million (up ~28% year over year), first-half ~$1,796 million (up ~34%), earnings Trailing net income ~$278 million and trailing EPS ~$2.10 against ~$133 million and ~$1.00 for full-year 2025; second-quarter net income ~$98 million (~$0.52 per share) versus ~$13 million (~$0.01) a year earlier, with adjusted EPS ~$0.64, segment profitability Second-quarter Adjusted EBITDA ~$286 million (up ~78%) at a ~31.5% margin: mining ~$220 million (up ~63%, ~41.9% margin) and smelting ~$66 million (up ~162%, ~11.4% margin); trailing twelve-month Adjusted EBITDA ~$1,055 million versus ~$665 million a year earlier, cash generation and capital spending Operating cash flow before working capital ~$286 million in the quarter, offset by a ~$365 million first-half working-capital and other outflow that left first-half free cash flow at ~negative $136 million; 2026 capex guidance reaffirmed at ~$381 million with ~$160 million spent in the first half, plus ~$86 million guided for exploration and project evaluation; SCCO shows revenue (ttm) ~$11 billion-plus, varies with copper price (verify), profitability Profitable; margins swing with copper prices, cash cost position Among the lowest in the copper industry, p/e (ttm) ~20x to ~30x, varies with cycle (verify).

NEXA and SCCO are related but distinct: same themes, different businesses and risks. Neither wins in the abstract; the right pick is whichever thesis you actually believe, sized so you are not over-concentrated in one theme. Walnut can show your combined NEXA and SCCO exposure against your real portfolio. It is not an investment adviser.