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Freeport-McMoRan (FCX) Gains But Lags Market: What You Should Know

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In the latest trading session, Freeport-McMoRan (FCX - Free Report) closed at $38.31, marking a +1.14% move from the previous day. The stock lagged the S&P 500's daily gain of 1.75%. Meanwhile, the Dow gained 1.05%, and the Nasdaq, a tech-heavy index, added 7.84%.

Heading into today, shares of the mining company had lost 4.82% over the past month, lagging the Basic Materials sector's loss of 0.18% and the S&P 500's loss of 4.4% in that time.

Freeport-McMoRan will be looking to display strength as it nears its next earnings release. On that day, Freeport-McMoRan is projected to report earnings of $0.36 per share, which would represent a year-over-year decline of 62.5%. Meanwhile, our latest consensus estimate is calling for revenue of $5.39 billion, down 12.59% from the prior-year quarter.

FCX's full-year Zacks Consensus Estimates are calling for earnings of $2.27 per share and revenue of $22.46 billion. These results would represent year-over-year changes of -27.48% and -1.68%, respectively.

Investors might also notice recent changes to analyst estimates for Freeport-McMoRan. These revisions help to show the ever-changing nature of near-term business trends. As such, positive estimate revisions reflect analyst optimism about the company's business and profitability.

Based on our research, we believe these estimate revisions are directly related to near-team stock moves. Investors can capitalize on this by using the Zacks Rank. This model considers these estimate changes and provides a simple, actionable rating system.

Ranging from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell), the Zacks Rank system has a proven, outside-audited track record of outperformance, with #1 stocks returning an average of +25% annually since 1988. Over the past month, the Zacks Consensus EPS estimate has moved 0.67% higher. Freeport-McMoRan is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold).

Valuation is also important, so investors should note that Freeport-McMoRan has a Forward P/E ratio of 16.69 right now. This represents a premium compared to its industry's average Forward P/E of 16.19.

The Mining - Non Ferrous industry is part of the Basic Materials sector. This group has a Zacks Industry Rank of 96, putting it in the top 39% of all 250+ industries.

The Zacks Industry Rank gauges the strength of our 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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