Freeport-McMoRan

The world is going electric, and almost all of it runs on copper. In the third quarter of 2026, Freeport sold its copper for $6.54 per pound, up about 40% from $4.68 a year earlier, and gold and molybdenum prices climbed too. That lifted revenue to $7.5 billion from $7.0 billion and pushed profit to $1.2 billion, up about 74% from $674 million, even though it sold fewer pounds.

Freeport expects its operations to bring in about $8.5 billion in cash in 2026 if copper stays near $6.50 a pound. That money pays for growth, like new technology that pulls extra copper out of old rock piles in the Americas and a possible major expansion at its El Abra mine in Chile. Freeport also restarted its copper processing plant in Indonesia in late August and has bought back $305 million of its own stock so far this year.

Freeport's profits ride on the price of copper, and this quarter shows it. It sold 749 million pounds of copper, down about 23% from 977 million a year ago, so higher prices did all the heavy lifting. If a slowing economy drags copper back toward last year's $4.68 per pound, earnings could drop fast.

Its crown jewel Grasberg mine in Indonesia is still ramping back up after an underground mud rush in September 2025. The restart cost $244 million in idle mine expenses this quarter, and the cost to produce each pound of copper climbed to $2.07 from $1.40. Freeport now expects to sell about 3.0 billion pounds of copper in 2026, a bit below its earlier 3.1 billion goal, and Indonesia still hasn't settled whether a 10% tax applies to its gold exports.