Freeport-McMoRan beats quarterly profit on higher copper and gold prices
Miner Freeport-McMoRan beat Wall Street estimates for second-quarter profit on Wednesday, as higher copper and gold prices helped offset lower production.
The company's shares rose 1.6% to $40.54 in pre-market trade.
The results come against the backdrop of U.S. President Donald Trump's threat to impose a 50% tariff on copper imports, from August 1.
Freeport could be a big beneficiary, seeing as much as $1.6-billion boost to annual profit, given its position as the largest U.S. producer with more expansion options than rivals.
Following the announcement, COMEX copper prices jumped roughly 25% above global benchmarks, widening the price spread between domestic and international markets.
Freeport, which supplies about 70% of U.S. refined copper, said it expects to sell 1.3-billion pounds from its domestic mines in 2025.
The company said U.S. tariffs in effect and announced so far have not had a material impact on second-quarter, but warned of a roughly 5% increase in the cost of U.S. purchases if suppliers pass along tariff-related expenses.
Quarterly average realized price for copper was $4.54 per pound, up 1.3% from a year earlier, while average realized price for gold was $3,291 per ounce, up about 43%.
However, second-quarter copper production dropped around 7% to 963-million recoverable pounds, from a year earlier.
The company reported an adjusted profit of 54 cents per share for the three months ended June 30, compared with analysts' average estimate of 45 cents, according to data compiled by LSEG.
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