Freeport-McMoRan (FCX) closed the latest trading day at $41.81, indicating a +1.23% change from the previous session's end. The stock's change was more than the S&P 500's daily gain of 0.75%. Meanwhile, the Dow experienced a rise of 0.58%, and the technology-dominated Nasdaq saw an increase of 1%.

The the stock of mining company has fallen by 1.46% in the past month, lagging the Basic Materials sector's gain of 0.53% and the S&P 500's gain of 4.03%.

The investment community will be closely monitoring the performance of Freeport-McMoRan in its forthcoming earnings report. The company is predicted to post an EPS of $0.46, indicating a 17.95% growth compared to the equivalent quarter last year. Meanwhile, our latest consensus estimate is calling for revenue of $6.45 billion, up 10.81% from the prior-year quarter.

For the full year, the Zacks Consensus Estimates project earnings of $1.68 per share and a revenue of $26.04 billion, demonstrating changes of +9.09% and +13.96%, respectively, from the preceding year.

It's also important for investors to be aware of any recent modifications to analyst estimates for Freeport-McMoRan. Recent revisions tend to reflect the latest near-term business trends. As such, positive estimate revisions reflect analyst optimism about the company's business and profitability.

Empirical research indicates that these revisions in estimates have a direct correlation with impending stock price performance. 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, which varies between #1 (Strong Buy) and #5 (Strong Sell), carries an impressive track record of exceeding expectations, confirmed by external audits, with stocks at #1 delivering an average annual return of +25% since 1988. Over the past month, there's been no change in the Zacks Consensus EPS estimate. Freeport-McMoRan presently features a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold).

Investors should also note Freeport-McMoRan's current valuation metrics, including its Forward P/E ratio of 24.57. This expresses a premium compared to the average Forward P/E of 13.04 of its industry.

It is also worth noting that FCX currently has a PEG ratio of 1.94. This popular metric is similar to the widely-known P/E ratio, with the difference being that the PEG ratio also takes into account the company's expected earnings growth rate. FCX's industry had an average PEG ratio of 0.66 as of yesterday's close.

The Mining – Non Ferrous industry is part of the Basic Materials sector. This industry currently has a Zacks Industry Rank of 95, which puts it in the top 38% of all 250+ industries.

The Zacks Industry Rank assesses the strength of our separate industry groups by calculating the average Zacks Rank of the individual stocks contained 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 use Zacks.com to monitor all these stock-influencing metrics, and more, throughout the forthcoming trading sessions.

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