Freeport-McMoRan (FCX) closed the most recent trading day at $16.36, moving +0.52% from the previous trading session. The stock lagged the S&P 500’s daily gain of 1.27%. Meanwhile, the Dow gained 1.18%, and the Nasdaq, a tech-heavy index, added 1.87%.
Heading into today, shares of the mining company had gained 17.98% over the past month, outpacing the Basic Materials sector’s gain of 3.54% and the S&P 500’s gain of 0.37% in that time.
Investors will be hoping for strength from FCX as it approaches its next earnings release. In that report, analysts expect FCX to post earnings of $0.15 per share. This would mark year-over-year growth of 1600%. Our most recent consensus estimate is calling for quarterly revenue of $3.47 billion, up 4.76% from the year-ago period.
FCX’s full-year Zacks Consensus Estimates are calling for earnings of $0.33 per share and revenue of $13.26 billion. These results would represent year-over-year changes of +1550% and -8.88%, respectively.
Any recent changes to analyst estimates for FCX should also be noted by investors. 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. We developed the Zacks Rank to capitalize on this phenomenon. Our system takes these estimate changes into account and delivers a clear, actionable rating model.
The Zacks Rank system, which ranges from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell), has an impressive outside-audited track record of outperformance, with #1 stocks generating an average annual return of +25% since 1988. Over the past month, the Zacks Consensus EPS estimate remained stagnant. FCX is currently a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).
Looking at its valuation, FCX is holding a Forward P/E ratio of 49.91. For comparison, its industry has an average Forward P/E of 40.55, which means FCX is trading at a premium to the group.
The Mining – Non Ferrous industry is part of the Basic Materials sector. This group has a Zacks Industry Rank of 104, putting it in the top 41% 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.
You can find more information on all of these metrics, and much more, on Zacks.com.
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