It has been a red hot 2025 for Capstone Copper Corp (ASX: CSC) shares.
The copper producer holds a diversified portfolio of operating assets focused in the Americas.
CSC has seen its share price rise more than 30% since the start of the year.
For context, the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) is up roughly 10% in the same span.
On Tuesday, there was more good news for investors holding CSC shares.
The company announced Orion Resource Partners LP agreed to acquire a 25% ownership interest in its Santo Domingo Project and Sierra Norte Project for total cash consideration of up to $360 million.
Notably, Santo Domingo is located just 35 kilometres from one of Capstone's operational copper mines in Chile, Mantoverde.
The Motley Fool's Bart Bogacz dove into the deal on Wednesday.
He reported that this significant cash injection helps de-risk capital funding requirements for Santo Domingo, whilst providing financial flexibility to move it closer to mining.
What was Morgans' take?
Following the announcement, the team at Morgans increased its price target on CSC shares.
Speaking on the deal, the broker said:
The sell-down replicates CSC's Mantoverde partnership model and reduces CSC's own equity requirement for development to ~US$420m, fundable from internal cash flows. Buyback right is retained, allowing CSC to reconsolidate Orion's 25% interest post commercial production at a fixed, pre-agreed price.
It maintains its accumulate rating and has upgraded its price target to $16.30 (previously A$16.00ps).
What's the upside?
Based on the price target increase, it seems the broker is optimistic about the future of CSC shares.
Yesterday, CSC shares closed trading at $13.46.
Based on this, and Morgans' price target of $16.30, the broker sees an upside of approximately 21.1%.
Morgans wasn't the only broker to upgrade its view on CSC shares.
Following this week's announcement, Macquarie also upgraded its price target to $14.80.
Elsewhere, TradingView has a 12 month price target of $14.50 (7.7% upside).
