Freeport-McMoRan
FCXMarket price data through October 22, 2026.
Performance
Oct 2021 – Oct 2026
Track record
How this pick has done since Benson first called it.
- Benson Return
- -6%
- How much this stock is up since Benson first picked it — measured from the price at the time of that first pick, not from today.
- First pick price
- ~$69
- Roughly what one share cost when Benson first picked this stock. This is the starting line for the Benson Return.
- Tracking since
- June 2026
- The month this stock first became a Benson pick.
- Tracking duration
- 4 months
- How long Benson has been tracking this pick.
About Freeport-McMoRan
Freeport-McMoRan is America's biggest copper miner and one of the largest in the world. It digs up copper, gold, and molybdenum, a metal that makes steel tougher, from giant mines in Arizona, New Mexico, Peru, Chile, and Indonesia. Think of it as the supplier of the raw copper that wires power grids, electric cars, and the data centers that run artificial intelligence.
The case for and against
Both sides of the story, in plain English.
- Copper Cash
The world is going electric, and almost all of it runs on copper. In the second quarter of 2026, Freeport sold its copper for $6.17 per pound, up about 36% from $4.54 a year earlier. That pushed profit to $984 million, up 27% from $772 million, even though it sold fewer pounds while its biggest mine restarts.
- Bonus Pounds
Freeport uses new technology to pull extra copper out of rock it has already dug up. That added 47 million pounds last quarter, and the goal is 300 million bonus pounds a year. The company expects to sell about 3.1 billion pounds of copper in 2026 and bring in roughly $8.3 billion in cash if copper stays near $6 a pound, which pays for growth in Arizona and Chile and funded $110 million of stock buybacks last quarter.
- Price Rollercoaster
Freeport's fortunes swing with the price of copper, and this quarter shows it. Total sales actually slipped to $7.0 billion from $7.6 billion a year ago, so higher prices did the heavy lifting on profit. If a slowing economy drags copper back toward last year's $4.54 per pound, earnings could drop fast.
- Grasberg Grind
Its crown jewel Grasberg mine in Indonesia is still ramping back up after an underground mud rush in 2025. Copper sales fell to 710 million pounds from 1.0 billion a year earlier, and gold sales dropped to 123,000 ounces from 522,000. The restart cost $284 million in idle mine expenses this quarter, and the cost to produce each pound climbed to $1.97 from $1.13.
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How to read this page
This automated research summary uses Financial Modeling Prep market data through 2026-10-22. Model signals, scores, and risk labels can change and may be incomplete or wrong.
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