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Freeport-McMoRan (FCX) Registers a Bigger Fall Than the Market: Important Facts to Note

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In the latest trading session, Freeport-McMoRan (FCX - Free Report) closed at $42.79, marking a -0.58% move from the previous day. This change lagged the S&P 500's daily loss of 0.19%. Elsewhere, the Dow saw a downswing of 0.55%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq depreciated by 0.18%.

The the stock of mining company has fallen by 8.17% in the past month, lagging the Basic Materials sector's loss of 1.81% and the S&P 500's gain of 6.66%.

Market participants will be closely following the financial results of Freeport-McMoRan in its upcoming release. On that day, Freeport-McMoRan is projected to report earnings of $0.40 per share, which would represent year-over-year growth of 48.15%. Meanwhile, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for revenue is projecting net sales of $6.07 billion, up 2.77% from the year-ago period.

Looking at the full year, the Zacks Consensus Estimates suggest analysts are expecting earnings of $1.50 per share and revenue of $25.9 billion. These totals would mark changes of -2.6% and +13.31%, respectively, from last year.

Investors should also note any recent changes to analyst estimates for Freeport-McMoRan. These recent revisions tend to reflect the evolving nature of short-term business trends. As a result, we can interpret positive estimate revisions as a good sign for the company's business outlook.

Our research suggests that these changes in estimates have a direct relationship with upcoming stock price performance. To benefit from this, we have developed the Zacks Rank, a proprietary model which takes these estimate changes into account and provides an 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 a 0.48% fall in the Zacks Consensus EPS estimate. Freeport-McMoRan is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold).

From a valuation perspective, Freeport-McMoRan is currently exchanging hands at a Forward P/E ratio of 28.7. This indicates a premium in contrast to its industry's Forward P/E of 22.61.

We can also see that FCX currently has a PEG ratio of 16.98. Comparable to the widely accepted P/E ratio, the PEG ratio also accounts for the company's projected earnings growth. The Mining - Non Ferrous industry had an average PEG ratio of 1.01 as trading concluded yesterday.

The Mining - Non Ferrous industry is part of the Basic Materials sector. This industry currently has a Zacks Industry Rank of 53, which puts it in the top 22% of all 250+ industries.

The strength of our individual industry groups is measured by the Zacks Industry Rank, which is calculated based on the average Zacks Rank of the individual stocks within these groups. Our research shows that the top 50% rated industries outperform the bottom half by a factor of 2 to 1.

Ensure to harness Zacks.com to stay updated with all these stock-shifting metrics, among others, in the next trading sessions.


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