01:05 PM EDT, 04/24/2024 (MT Newswires) -- CFRA, an independent research provider, has provided MT Newswires with the following research alert. Analysts at CFRA have summarized their opinion as follows:

We decrease our 12-month target by $4 to $58, valuing FCX at an EV/EBITDA of 7.5x our 2025 EBITDA estimate, below peers, which are trading at an average forward EV/EBITDA of 9.1x, but above FCX's three-year average forward EV/EBITDA of 6.6x. We lower our 2024 EPS estimate by $0.86 to $1.74 and our 2025 EPS forecast by $0.83 to $2.29. FCX posted Q1 adj. EPS of $0.32 vs. $0.52, $0.04 above consensus, driven by a top-line beat of 11%. Q1 copper production increased 12% Y/Y to 1.085 billion pounds and gold production increased 36% Y/Y to 549 thousand ounces. Relative to the prior-year quarter, higher copper volume and higher by-product credits were partly offset by higher export duties in Indonesia, resulting in Q1 average unit net cash costs of $1.51 per pound, down from $1.76 per pound in Q1 2023. We think FCX's free cash flow (FCF) is under-appreciated by the market and we anticipate a step-change in FCF in 2025, as $1.0 billion will be spent in 2024 for the Indonesia smelter, scheduled to start up in June.