Freeport-McMoRan (FCX) Dips More Than Broader Markets: What You Should Know

In the latest trading session, Freeport-McMoRan (FCX) closed at $36.56, marking a -1.46% move from the previous day. This move lagged the S&P 500's daily loss of 0.85%. Elsewhere, the Dow lost 0.17%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq lost 0.05%.

Coming into today, shares of the mining company had gained 0.27% in the past month. In that same time, the Basic Materials sector lost 1.7%, while the S&P 500 lost 0.97%.

Investors will be hoping for strength from Freeport-McMoRan as it approaches its next earnings release. On that day, Freeport-McMoRan is projected to report earnings of $0.83 per share, which would represent year-over-year growth of 118.42%. Meanwhile, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for revenue is projecting net sales of $6.39 billion, up 42.17% from the year-ago period.

Looking at the full year, our Zacks Consensus Estimates suggest analysts are expecting earnings of $2.99 per share and revenue of $23.15 billion. These totals would mark changes of +453.7% and +63.06%, respectively, from last year.

Investors might also notice recent changes to analyst estimates for Freeport-McMoRan. Recent revisions tend to reflect the latest near-term business trends. As a result, we can interpret positive estimate revisions as a good sign for the company's business outlook.

Research indicates that these estimate revisions are directly correlated with near-term share price momentum. Investors can capitalize on this by using the Zacks Rank. This model considers these estimate changes and provides a simple, actionable rating system.

The Zacks Rank system ranges from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell). It has a remarkable, outside-audited track record of success, with #1 stocks delivering an average annual return of +25% since 1988. Within the past 30 days, our consensus EPS projection has moved 1.8% higher. Freeport-McMoRan is holding a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold) right now.

Looking at its valuation, Freeport-McMoRan is holding a Forward P/E ratio of 12.41. This represents a premium compared to its industry's average Forward P/E of 11.64.

Meanwhile, FCX's PEG ratio is currently 0.42. The PEG ratio is similar to the widely-used P/E ratio, but this metric also takes the company's expected earnings growth rate into account. The Mining - Non Ferrous was holding an average PEG ratio of 0.42 at yesterday's closing price.

The Mining - Non Ferrous industry is part of the Basic Materials sector. This industry currently has a Zacks Industry Rank of 109, which puts it in the top 43% of all 250+ industries.

The Zacks Industry Rank gauges the strength of our individual industry groups by measuring the average Zacks Rank of the individual stocks within the groups. Our research shows that the top 50% rated industries outperform the bottom half by a factor of 2 to 1.

Be sure to follow all of these stock-moving metrics, and many more, on Zacks.com.

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