Freeport-McMoRan Inc. FCX recorded net income (attributable to common stock) of $352 million or 24 cents per share for first-quarter 2025, down around 25.6% from $473 million or 32 cents in the year-ago quarter. Earnings per share were in line with the Zacks Consensus Estimate.

Revenues declined roughly 9.4% year over year to $5,728 million. The figure surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $5,307.6 million.

FCX’s Operational Highlights

Copper production declined around 20% year over year to 868 million pounds in the reported quarter. The figure missed our estimate of 872 million pounds.

Consolidated sales declined around 21.2% year over year to 872 million pounds of copper. The figure topped our estimate of 850 million pounds. 

The company sold 128,000 ounces of gold, down around 77.5% year over year. FCX also sold 20 million pounds of molybdenum, stable year over year, in the reported quarter.

Consolidated average unit net cash costs per pound of copper were $2.07, up from $1.51 a year ago. The figure beat our estimate of $2.05.

The average realized price for copper was $4.44 per pound, up around 12.7% year over year. The figure outpaced our estimate of $4.40. The average realized price per ounce for gold rose around 43.2% year over year to $3,072. The figure was above our estimate of $2,700.

FCX’s Financial Position

Cash and cash equivalents at the end of the quarter were $4,385 million, down around 15.8% year over year. The company’s total debt was $9,404 million, declining about 0.2% year over year.

Cash flows provided by operations were around $1.1 billion for the reported quarter, down 42.1% year over year.

FCX’s Guidance

FCX expects its total operating cash flow for 2025 to be around $7 billion. This includes approximately $0.2 billion from working capital and other sources. 

Capital spending for 2025 is projected to be around $5 billion. This includes about $2.8 billion allocated to major mining projects and $0.6 billion for PTFI’s new downstream processing facilities, excluding capitalized interest, owner’s costs, or commissioning expenses.

Freeport expects consolidated sales of around 4 billion pounds of copper, 1.6 million ounces of gold and 88 million pounds of molybdenum for 2025. These include 1 billion pounds of copper, 500,000 ounces of gold and 22 million pounds of molybdenum for second-quarter 2025.

FCX’s Price Performance

Freeport’s shares have declined 28.8% in the past year compared with a 26.9% decline of the industry.

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FCX’s Zacks Rank & Key Picks

FCX currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).

Better-ranked stocks worth a look in the basic materials space include Hawkins, Inc. HWKN, Osisko Gold Royalties Ltd OR and Intrepid Potash, Inc. IPI. While HWKN sports a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), OR and IPI carry a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

Hawkins is expected to report first-quarter results on May 21. The consensus estimate for Hawkins’ earnings is pegged at 74 cents. HWKN beat the consensus estimate in one of the last four quarters while missing thrice, with the average earnings surprise being 6.1%. 

Osisko Gold is scheduled to release first-quarter results on May 7. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for OR’s first-quarter earnings is pegged at 15 cents. OR has a trailing four-quarter earnings surprise of 4.4%, on average.  

Intrepid Potash is slated to release first-quarter results on May 5. The consensus estimate for the first quarter is pegged at a loss of 12 cents, stable over the past 60 days.

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Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (FCX) : Free Stock Analysis Report

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This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).

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