Freeport-McMoRan's latest earnings outpaced expectations, as the copper mining giant received a boost from favorable pricing in the second quarter.
Freeport-McMoRan on Thursday reported adjusted earnings of 74 cents a share, up from 54 cents a year ago and above Wall Street's expectation for 62 cents. Revenue fell 7% to $7.03 billion from a year earlier, but still beat the analyst consensus call for $6.71 billion, according to FactSet.
Copper sales totaled 710 million pounds for the period, bolstering the mining company's financials and coming in above Freeport's April guidance. The average realized copper price increased to $6.17 a pound, up from $4.54 a year ago.
Sales of gold totaled 123,00o pounds, down from 522,000 a year ago. However, Freeport also benefited from a 37% increase in the average realized price of gold per ounce.
The stock, however, fell 2.6% to $63.29 on Thursday, paring gains made in premarket trading.
CEO Kathleen Quirk said Freeport benefited from "favorable pricing" for its products and that the company made "steady progress" with its Grasberg Block Cave mine ramp-up back toward full operations. Freeport expects to reach 65% capacity in the second half of 2026 and about 80% by the middle of 2027. The mine is expected to be fully operational at the end of 2027.
The company has been grappling with the lingering effects of a September incident at its Grasberg mine, when a mud rush killed seven workers and ground operations to a halt.
Write to Kit Norton at kit.norton@barrons.com
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July 23, 2026 10:28 ET (14:28 GMT)
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