SSR Mining’s Golden Leap: A Value Investor’s Side Eye

Let’s begin with a confession: I once bought a gold-plated toaster on a whim, convinced it would outperform the S&P 500. It didn’t. But here we are, 277.7% richer in SSR Mining’s stock price since last year, and Hillsdale Investment Management seems to be laughing all the way to the bank.

What Happened

On November 10, 2025, Hillsdale Investment Management Inc. filed with the SEC that it had acquired 1,738,825 shares of SSR Mining Inc., a move that cost them roughly $42.45 million. For context, that’s about what my sister paid for her “investment” in a NFT of a dancing cat. But unlike her cat, SSR Mining actually produces something: gold, silver, copper, and the occasional lead balloon.

What Else to Know

This purchase now accounts for 1.28% of Hillsdale’s reportable AUM, which is enough to make it a respectable holding but not quite a top five. Their top five? Royal Bank of Canada, CIBC, TD, Shopify, and Bank of Nova Scotia. If investing were a dinner party, SSR would be the charming cousin who shows up late but still steals the main course.

NYSE:RY: $125.92 million (3.8% of AUM)
NYSE:CM: $94.66 million (2.9% of AUM)
NYSE:TD: $86.95 million (2.6% of AUM)
NASDAQ:SHOP: $79.73 million (2.4% of AUM)
NYSE:BNS: $70.77 million (2.1% of AUM)

As of November 9, 2025, SSR Mining’s shares sat at $19.94, a price that makes me nostalgic for the days when $20 could buy you a decent lunch. But for SSR, it’s a sign of a company that’s either mastered the art of mining or just really knows how to play the market.

Company Overview

Metric	Value
Price (as of market close 11/7/25)	$19.94
Market Capitalization	$4.04 billion
Revenue (TTM)	$995.62 million
Net Income (TTM)	$261.28 million

Company Snapshot

SSR Mining operates in Turkey, the U.S., Canada, and Argentina, which sounds like a global strategy until you realize it also means they’re dealing with four different tax attorneys. Their primary revenue driver is gold, a metal so beloved it has its own vaults and its own Wikipedia page. But they also dabble in silver and base metals, which is like having a side hustle selling lemonade next to your main gig as a gold panner.

Foolish Take

When a stock triples in a year, many investors do what I did with the toaster: panic-sell. But Hillsdale’s $42.45 million bet suggests they see something in SSR that the rest of us might be missing. Perhaps it’s the company’s ability to turn leaden market expectations into gold. Or maybe it’s just that SSR’s management team reads better than most Netflix scripts.

SSR’s portfolio spans long-life mines and joint ventures, which is a fancy way of saying they’ve got a lot of rocks and a lot of lawyers. But here’s the kicker: they can improve margins through focused improvements, unlike their peers who need to dig entire continents to shift costs. It’s the financial equivalent of fixing your Wi-Fi by unplugging the router-simple, effective, and slightly embarrassing if you’re doing it in public.

For investors, the real question is whether SSR can sustain its free cash flow. If they can, this year’s rally might just be the opening act. After all, even my toaster eventually caught fire-but at least it made a decent paperweight.

Glossary

Net position change: The difference in shares held, like realizing you’ve eaten half the cake and now have to explain it to your diet group.
AUM: Assets Under Management, the money you’re supposed to grow but often just use to buy more coffee machines.
Reportable fund: A fund that tells regulators what it’s doing, unlike the one I invested in that turned out to be a Ponzi scheme.
Alpha: Performance relative to a benchmark, or how you feel when your friend’s stock picks outperform yours.
Stake: Ownership percentage, or how much of a company you’re “in” before you start Googling “how to sell stock.”
Top holdings: The biggest investments in a fund’s portfolio, or the ones that make you feel like you’re on the right track… until they drop by 30%.
Wholly owned mining assets: Mines you fully own, which is great until you discover they’re haunted.
Joint ventures: Partnerships where everyone agrees to disagree about who’s responsible for the losses.
Precious metals: Gold, silver, etc., or what you call your savings when you’re trying to sound fancy.
Base metals: Copper, lead, zinc-what you get when you ask a toddler to draw a rainbow.
Geographic diversity: Operating in multiple places to reduce risk, or why SSR Mining probably needs a passport and a therapist.
TTM: Twelve months trailing, or how long it’s been since you’ve actually checked your portfolio.

And there you have it. The next time you’re tempted to invest in a gold-plated toaster, remember: SSR Mining’s got the real thing. 🦄

2025-11-21 07:03