Wheaton Precious Metals Corp.'s (NYSE:WPM) Q1-17 results were closely aligned with our prior expectations with the single exception that there was a 1.3Moz under-sale of silver relative to production, resulting in a temporary inventory build at the end of March. For the second quarter in succession, therefore, gold sales exceeded silver sales. Nevertheless, net earnings for the quarter were US$61.2m versus our expectation of US$61.4m.
Name change to reflect new reality
On 10 May, shareholders voted to change the company’s name from Silver Wheaton to Wheaton Precious Metals (WPM) to better reflect its asset mix. The change became effective on 16 May. Concurrently, it also changed its TSX and NYSE tickers from SLW to WPM and its web domain to wheatonpm.com.