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Best Thermal Coal Stocks to Buy Now (2026)

Top thermal coal stocks in 2026 ranked by overall Zen Rating. "A" Rated stocks have returned an average of +28.50% per year, and are the best thermal coal stocks to buy now. Learn More.

According to Zen Ratings, our proprietary rating system that evaluates 115 factors proven to drive growth in stocks and assigns each stock in our system an overall letter grade as well as 7 individual Component Grades for Value, Growth, Momentum, Sentiment, Safety, Financials, and proprietary AI algorithms, the 3 best thermal coal stocks to buy right now are:

Alliance Resource Partners (NASDAQ:ARLP) is the #1 top thermal coal stock out of 5 with a Zen Rating of B. Stocks with a rating of B have had an average return of +17.17% per year. Learn more.

The Component Grade breakdown for Alliance Resource Partners (NASDAQ:ARLP) is: Value: B, Growth: C, Momentum: C, Sentiment: B, Safety: C, Financials: A, and AI: B.

Alliance Resource Partners (NASDAQ:ARLP) has a Due Diligence Score of 41, which is 7 points higher than the thermal coal industry average of 34.

ARLP passed 14 out of 38 due diligence checks and has strong fundamentals. Alliance Resource Partners has seen its stock return 2.32% over the past year, overperforming other thermal coal stocks by 3 percentage points.

Natural Resource Partners (NYSE:NRP) is the #2 top thermal coal stock out of 5 with a Zen Rating of C. Stocks with a rating of C have had an average return of +5.11% per year. Learn more.

The Component Grade breakdown for Natural Resource Partners (NYSE:NRP) is: Value: C, Growth: D, Momentum: C, Sentiment: C, Safety: C, Financials: A, and AI: C.

Natural Resource Partners (NYSE:NRP) has a Due Diligence Score of 41, which is 7 points higher than the thermal coal industry average of 34.

NRP passed 14 out of 38 due diligence checks and has strong fundamentals. Natural Resource Partners has seen its stock return 14.74% over the past year, overperforming other thermal coal stocks by 15 percentage points.

Core Natural Resources (NYSE:CNR) is the #3 top thermal coal stock out of 5 with a Zen Rating of C. Stocks with a rating of C have had an average return of +5.11% per year. Learn more.

The Component Grade breakdown for Core Natural Resources (NYSE:CNR) is: Value: C, Growth: C, Momentum: C, Sentiment: C, Safety: D, Financials: C, and AI: C.

Core Natural Resources (NYSE:CNR) has a Due Diligence Score of 39, which is 5 points higher than the thermal coal industry average of 34.

CNR passed 15 out of 38 due diligence checks and has average fundamentals. Core Natural Resources has seen its stock return 4.64% over the past year, overperforming other thermal coal stocks by 5 percentage points.

Core Natural Resources has an average 1 year price target of $113.50, an upside of 41.49% from Core Natural Resources's current stock price of $80.22.

Core Natural Resources stock has a consensus Buy recommendation according to Wall Street analysts. Of the 2 analysts covering Core Natural Resources, 50% have issued a Strong Buy rating, 0% have issued a Buy, 50% have issued a hold, while 0% have issued a Sell rating, and 0% have issued a Strong Sell.

Out of 5 thermal coal stocks that have issued dividends in the past year, the 3 thermal coal stocks with the highest dividend yields are:

Alliance Resource Partners (NASDAQ:ARLP) has an annual dividend yield of 9.53%, which is 6 percentage points higher than the thermal coal industry average of 3.49%. Alliance Resource Partners's dividend payout is not stable, having dropped more than 10% three times in the last 10 years. Alliance Resource Partners's dividend has shown consistent growth over the last 10 years.

Alliance Resource Partners's dividend payout ratio of 117.1% indicates that its high dividend yield might not be sustainable for the long-term.

Nacco Industries (NYSE:NC) has an annual dividend yield of 3.04%, which is the same as the thermal coal industry average of 3.49%. Nacco Industries's dividend payout is not stable, having dropped more than 10% one times in the last 10 years. Nacco Industries's dividend has not shown consistent growth over the last 10 years.

Nacco Industries's dividend payout ratio of 44.2% indicates that its dividend yield is sustainable for the long-term.

Natural Resource Partners (NYSE:NRP) has an annual dividend yield of 2.63%, which is -1 percentage points lower than the thermal coal industry average of 3.49%. Natural Resource Partners's dividend payout is not stable, having dropped more than 10% five times in the last 10 years. Natural Resource Partners's dividend has shown consistent growth over the last 10 years.

Natural Resource Partners's dividend payout ratio of 39.3% indicates that its dividend yield is sustainable for the long-term.

Thermal coal stocks were down -2.48% in the last day, and down -5.24% over the last week. Peabody Energy was the among the top losers in the thermal coal industry, dropping -17.62% yesterday.

Peabody Energy shares are trading lower after the company reported worse-than-expected Q3 EPS results.

Based on the Valuation rating, one of the 7 components of a stocks overall Zen Ratings grade, which evaluates factors including estimated earnings yield, earnings before interest and taxes/enterprise value, cash flow yield, free cash flow to price, and price-to-earnings growth (PEG ratio), the 3 most undervalued thermal coal stocks right now are:

Alliance Resource Partners (NASDAQ:ARLP) is the most undervalued thermal coal stock based on its Valuation Rating of B. Valuation is one of 7 Component Grades used to calculate the overall Zen Rating.

Alliance Resource Partners has a valuation score of 43, which is 6 points higher than the thermal coal industry average of 37. It passed 3 out of 7 valuation due diligence checks.

Alliance Resource Partners's stock has gained 2.32% in the past year. It has overperformed other stocks in the thermal coal industry by 3 percentage points.

Natural Resource Partners (NYSE:NRP) is the second most undervalued thermal coal stock based on its Valuation Rating of C. Valuation is one of 7 Component Grades used to calculate the overall Zen Rating.

Natural Resource Partners has a valuation score of 43, which is 6 points higher than the thermal coal industry average of 37. It passed 3 out of 7 valuation due diligence checks.

Natural Resource Partners's stock has gained 14.74% in the past year. It has overperformed other stocks in the thermal coal industry by 15 percentage points.

Core Natural Resources (NYSE:CNR) is the third most undervalued thermal coal stock based on its Valuation Rating of C. Valuation is one of 7 Component Grades used to calculate the overall Zen Rating.

Core Natural Resources has a valuation score of 43, which is 6 points higher than the thermal coal industry average of 37. It passed 3 out of 7 valuation due diligence checks.

Core Natural Resources's stock has gained 4.64% in the past year. It has overperformed other stocks in the thermal coal industry by 5 percentage points.

50% of thermal coal stocks rated by analysts are a strong buy right now. On average, analysts expect thermal coal stocks to rise by 48.43% over the next year.

0% of thermal coal stocks have a Zen Rating of A (Strong Buy), 20% of thermal coal stocks are rated B (Buy), 80% are rated C (Hold), 0% are rated D (Sell), and 0% are rated F (Strong Sell).