FCX Freeport McMoRan Inc

By Anne Steele 

Freeport-McMoRan Inc. swung to a profit for the second straight quarter after a string of losses as the natural resources company revamps its copper business.

Still, results missed Wall Street views and shares in the company lost 2.4% premarket to $16.61.

The U.S. mining giant has been refocusing on producing copper, despite weak prices, and it has been shedding assets to help pare down its debt.

The Phoenix-based Freeport-McMoRan agreed in October to sell its onshore California oil and gas properties for $592 million in cash, a month after inking a $2 billion deal for its Mexican oil and gas assets.

On Wednesday, Chief Executive Richard Adkerson said the company "took aggressive actions in response to market conditions to restore our balance sheet strength." He said the company cut its debt by more than $8 billion.

During the latest period, Freeport-McMoRan said it sold 1.2 billion pounds of copper, up from 1.12 billion pounds a year earlier, and 430,000 ounces of gold, compared with 350,000.

In all for the fourth quarter, Freeport-McMoRan posted a profit of $292 million, or 21 cents a share, compared with a loss of $4.08 billion, or $3.47 a share, a year earlier. The year-earlier period was hurt $4.1 billion, or $3.45 a share, by impairments related to the company's oil and gas properties.

On an adjusted basis for the latest quarter, the company reported earnings of 25 cents, below analysts' views of 34 cents, according to Thomson Reuters.

Revenue shot up 24% to $4.38 billion. Analysts were looking for $4.42 billion.

The company in the previous quarter swung to a profit, breaking a streak of seven straight quarterly losses for Freeport-McMoRan.

Write to Anne Steele at Anne.Steele@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

January 25, 2017 09:24 ET (14:24 GMT)

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