Freeport-McMoRan 4th-Quarter Profit Up 16% on Higher Output

   By Tess Stynes 
 

Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc.'s (FCX) fourth-quarter earnings rose 16% amid increased production as the mining company bounced back from prior-year labor disruptions at its Indonesia operations.

Shares were up 1.5% at $34.15 in recent premarket trading as results beat expectations. Through Friday's close, the stock is down 12% since Freeport-McMoRan's acquisition of two energy companies was disclosed in early December.

Freeport-McMoRan last month agreed to buy McMoRan Exploration Co. (MMR) and Plains Exploration & Production Co. (PXP)--two oil companies with which it shares close ties--for roughly $9 billion in cash and stock. The deal marked a shift for the mining giant towards U.S. energy exploration. The transactions are expected to close in the second quarter.

The world's largest publicly traded copper company has been under some pressure to shake things up. Profits at the company have been strong but falling as global commodity prices slip in large part because of slowing demand in China.

In the latest period, copper output grew 22%, while average realized copper prices rose 5.3%. Gold production improved 39%, while the realized price of gold was up 1.5%. Molybdenum output climbed by one-third, though realized prices fell 16%.

Freeport-McMoRan reported a profit of $743 million, or 78 cents a share, up from $640 million, or 67 cents a share, a year earlier. Revenue increased 8.4% to $4.51 billion.

Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters most recently projected earnings of 70 cents a share on revenue of $4.47 billion.

McMoRan Exploration last week posted a steeper-than-expected decline in fourth-quarter revenue as the natural-gas exploration company's average daily production decreased and it swung to a loss.

Write to Tess Stynes at [e-mail].

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