If you bought Evolution Mining Ltd (ASX: EVN) shares a year ago, you'll have seen that investment more than double already.
During the Friday lunch hour, shares in the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) gold stock are up 0.6%, changing hands for $8.55 apiece.
For some context, the ASX 200 is down 0.3% at this same time.
This outperformance is par for the course for Evolution Mining shares, which have benefited from a surging gold price alongside the miner's own operational successes.
Indeed, at $8.55, shares in the gold miner are now up 101.7% from the $4.20 per share they were trading at 12 months ago.
And that's not including Evolution Mining's dividends.
Over the year, Evolution Mining has paid (or shortly will pay) a total of 20 cents per share in fully franked dividends. This sees the ASX 200 stock trading on a 2.3% dividend yield (part trailing, part pending). And it brings the past 12 months' accumulated gains to 108.3%.
Or enough to turn a $5,000 investment into $10,417. In one year.
Boom!
The final dividend of 13 cents per share is still up for grabs, by the way. If you're looking to bank that passive income, you'll need to own the stock at market close on 2 September. Evolution Mining shares trade ex-dividend on 3 September.
But with this blistering performance already behind it, can the gold stock keep outperforming in FY 2026?
Evolution Mining shares: Buy, hold, or sell?
For some greater insight into that question, we defer to Ord Minnett's Tony Paterno (courtesy of The Bull).
"The gold miner posted an underlying profit after tax of $958 million in full year 2025, up 99% on the prior corresponding period," Paterno said, explaining why investors have been piling into Evolution Mining shares.
"Gold production was up 5% and copper increased 12%," he said.
In other strong growth metrics, the ASX 200 gold stock reported record-setting underlying earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) of $2.21 billion, up 46% from the prior year.
But Paterno voiced concerns over the rapid share price gains.
"EVN shares rose from $4.84 on January 2 to close at $9.22 on June 4. The shares were trading at $8.075 on August 21," he said.
And for that reason, Paterno has a sell recommendation on Evolution Mining shares.
"In our view, the stock is trading at a significant premium to peers. We would be inclined to take a profit at these levels as the share price leaves little room for error," he concluded.
