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FREEPORT - Freeport-McMoRan Inc beat Wall Street expectations for second-quarter earnings on Thursday, as the miner benefited from higher demand and increased prices for copper.
Copper prices touched an all-time record high of $10,747.50 a tonne in May. Bullish investors bet that demand for the red metal will increase further as the world economy recovers from COVID-19 woes and as investments into green energy sectors ramp up.
The average realized price Freeport received per pound of the red metal rose 70% in the second quarter, while copper production increased about 19% to 913 million pounds.
The company said production of molybdenum, a battery metal used in airbags, stood at 20 million pounds compared to 19 million pounds a year earlier.
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The company lowered its capital expenditure guidance for 2021, excluding Indonesia smelter expenditures, to about $2.2 billion from $2.3 billion.
The copper producer's adjusted net income attributable to common stock was $1.14 billion, or 77 cents per share, in the three months ended June 30, compared with $44 million, or 3 cents per share, a year earlier.
Analysts on average had expected a profit of 76 cents per share, according to IBES data from Refinitiv.
