Topic: How To Invest

Hello, Pat: May I please have your opinion on Freeport-McMoRan? Thank you so much.

Article Excerpt

Freeport-McMoRan Inc., $11.18, symbol FCX on New York (Shares outstanding: 1.1 billion; Market cap: $12.7 billion; www.fcx.com), is a leading producer of copper, gold and other metals from mines in the U.S., Indonesia, Africa and South America. In 2013, the company diversified into oil and natural gas by acquiring McMoRan Exploration and Plains Exploration & Production, which have properties in Louisiana, Wyoming and California, as well as wells in the Gulf of Mexico. Freeport paid a total of $9 billion for both companies. In 2014, copper supplied 60% of Freeport’s revenue, followed by oil and gas, 20%; gold, 7%; molybdenum (which strengthens and prevents rust in alloys and high-temperature steels), 6%; and other minerals, 7%. The U.S. accounted for 48% of total revenue, followed by Indonesia (8%), Japan (7%), Spain (6%), China (5%), Switzerland (4%), Chile (3%), Turkey (2%) and South Korea (2%). Other countries supplied the remaining 15%. In…