(In "=Freeport-McMoRan 3Q Net Up 27%, Beating Views; Div Raised"
at 8:21 a.m. EDT, the name of Corporacion Nacional del Cobre de
Chile was misspelled. A corrected version follows.)
Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc.'s (FCX) third-quarter
profit rose 27%, beating analysts' expectations, as revenue jumped
amid higher prices.
Shares were up 3.3% at $98.47 in recent premarket trading as the
company also increased its annual dividend by 67%.
The boost to $2 a share will cost the company an additional $375
million a year and comes as many companies have elected to reward
shareholders through increased payouts or share buybacks of late as
corporate cash piles have grown.
The world's second-largest copper producer, after Chile's
state-owned Corporacion Nacional del Cobre de Chile, has seen
performance boosted by higher prices of late. The miner draws the
largest share of revenue selling gold, and spot prices of the
yellow metal have risen to record highs of late as investors seek
safe investments amid economic uncertainty.
Freeport-McMoRan reported a profit of $1.18 billion, or $2.49 a
share, up from $925 million, or $2.07 a share, a year earlier.
Revenue jumped 24% to $5.15 billion.
Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters most recently expected
earnings of $2.25 on $4.74 billion in revenue.
Copper sales volume was up 8.1% as average realized prices
jumped 27%. Gold sales volume was down 30% but prices climbed
28%.
-By Matt Jarzemsky, Dow Jones Newswires; 212-416-2240;
matthew.jarzemsky@dowjones.com