Shares of Freeport-McMoRan Inc. fell 1.8% in premarket trading Thursday, after the mining company reported third-quarter net profit that soared more than four-fold, while revenue came up short of expectations, as realized copper prices soared but gold prices fell. Net income climbed to $1.40 billion, or 94 cents a share, from $329 million, or 22 cents a share, in the year-ago period. Excluding nonrecurring items, adjusted earnings per share came to 89 cents, above the FactSet consensus of 81 cents. Revenue grew 58.0% to $6.08 billion, just short of the FactSet consensus of $6.13 billion, as cost of sales increased 23.8% to $3.55 billion. The average realized price per pound of copper rose 39.5% to $4.20, the average realized price per ounce for gold fell 7.6% to $1.76 billion and the average realized price per pound for molybdenum jumped 101.6% to $18.61. The stock has rallied 12.4% over the past three months, while the S&P 500 has gained 4.1%.
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