Reviewing Freeport-McMoRan (FCX) & Its Competitors

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) is one of 1,984 publicly-traded companies in the “Metals & Mining” industry, but how does it weigh in compared to its competitors? We will compare Freeport-McMoRan to similar companies based on the strength of its valuation, earnings, risk, profitability, dividends, analyst recommendations and institutional ownership.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

80.8% of Freeport-McMoRan shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 16.0% of shares of all “Metals & Mining” companies are held by institutional investors. 0.7% of Freeport-McMoRan shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 17.7% of shares of all “Metals & Mining” companies are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Freeport-McMoRan and its competitors top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Net Income	Price/Earnings Ratio
Freeport-McMoRan	$26.44 billion	$2.20 billion	26.34
Freeport-McMoRan Competitors	$174.76 billion	$278.94 million	-26.26

Freeport-McMoRan’s competitors have higher revenue, but lower earnings than Freeport-McMoRan. Freeport-McMoRan is trading at a higher price-to-earnings ratio than its competitors, indicating that it is currently more expensive than other companies in its industry.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent recommendations and price targets for Freeport-McMoRan and its competitors, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Freeport-McMoRan	0	4	20	1	2.88
Freeport-McMoRan Competitors	6407	22612	32309	1801	2.47

Freeport-McMoRan presently has a consensus target price of $75.30, suggesting a potential upside of 20.13%. As a group, “Metals & Mining” companies have a potential upside of 22.86%. Given Freeport-McMoRan’s competitors higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Freeport-McMoRan has less favorable growth aspects than its competitors.

Volatility and Risk

Freeport-McMoRan has a beta of 1.38, suggesting that its stock price is 38% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Freeport-McMoRan’s competitors have a beta of 0.96, suggesting that their average stock price is 4% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Dividends

Freeport-McMoRan pays an annual dividend of $0.30 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.5%. Freeport-McMoRan pays out 12.6% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. As a group, “Metals & Mining” companies pay a dividend yield of 9.9% and pay out 10.8% of their earnings in the form of a dividend. Freeport-McMoRan lags its competitors as a dividend stock, given its lower dividend yield and higher payout ratio.

Profitability

This table compares Freeport-McMoRan and its competitors’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Freeport-McMoRan	13.03%	12.09%	6.50%
Freeport-McMoRan Competitors	-1,164,884,689,320,590,000.00%	-52.92%	-2.03%

Summary

Freeport-McMoRan beats its competitors on 10 of the 15 factors compared.

Freeport-McMoRan Company Profile

Freeport-McMoRan Inc. engages in the mining of mineral properties in North America, South America, and Indonesia. It primarily explores for copper, gold, molybdenum, silver, and other metals. The company's assets include the Grasberg minerals district in Indonesia; Morenci, Bagdad, Safford, Sierrita, and Miami in Arizona; Chino and Tyrone in New Mexico; and Henderson and Climax in Colorado, North America, as well as Cerro Verde in Peru and El Abra in Chile. The company was formerly known as Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc. and changed its name to Freeport-McMoRan Inc. in July 2014. Freeport-McMoRan Inc. was incorporated in 1987 and is headquartered in Phoenix, Arizona.