Freeport-McMoRan blew past fourth-quarter earnings estimates Thursday amid higher copper prices and better-than-expected sales volume. However, the mining giant trimmed its outlook for 2026 copper sales. FCX stock rose in early Thursday stock market action as the copper futures price eased to a three-week low.

"Freeport is strongly positioned for the future as a leading producer of copper with large scale, geographically diverse operations and an exciting portfolio of growth projects to provide additional supplies of copper to a growing market," CEO Kathleen Quirk said in an earnings statement.

Copper Price

The near-term copper futures contract slipped 0.5% to $5.74 a pound, after eclipsing $6 for the first time earlier this month. Copper prices have surged partly due to expectations that President Donald Trump will announce tariffs on raw copper imports in coming months. Supply has tightened after a series of copper mining industry setbacks, including a tragic disaster a Freeport's Grasberg mine in Indonesia.

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Freeport-McMoRan Earnings

Freeport posted Q4 adjusted earnings per share of 47 cents, up 52% from a year ago, defying forecasts for an 8% year-over-year decline, according to the FactSet consensus. Adjusted earnings excluded $763 million in pretax expenses, mostly tied to the Grasberg disaster and recovery. Revenue fell 1.5% to $5.633 billion, easily beating $5.294 billion estimates.

Freeport sold 3.6 billion pounds of copper on the year, topping the reduced outlook for 3.5 million pounds issued on Nov. 18, when the company detailed its plan for restarting its Grasberg mine.

For 2026, Freeport now expects 3.4 billion pounds in copper sales, down from the Nov. 18 outlook of 3.45 billion pounds. Copper sales are expected to rebound to 4.1 billion pounds in 2027, unchanged from the prior outlook.

Freeport introduced a 2028 outlook for 4.2 billion pounds in copper sales.

FCX Stock

FCX stock gave up a brief gain, reversing to a fractional loss early Thursday. Through Wednesday, FCX had surged 47.5% since Nov. 26, when it broke clear of its 50-day moving average, flashing an early entry opportunity.

In the same industry group, Southern Copper is part of the IBD Leaderboard portfolio of elite stocks.

Be sure to read IBD's The Big Picture column after each trading day to get the latest on the prevailing stock market trend and what it means for your trading decisions.

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