The Whistling of Copper Kettles: Southern Copper Corp (SCCO), Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc. (FCX)

Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc. (NYSE:FCX) is the world’s largest publicly traded copper company, mining reserves of copper, gold and molybdenum. In January 2013, the Company reported their Fourth-Quarter and Year Ended December 31, 2012 results. Net income attributable to common stock for the Year 2012 was $3.0 billion, $3.19 per share. This is in comparison to $4.6 billion, $4.78 per share, for the Year 2011.

Consolidated sales for the Year 2012 totaled 3.65 billion pounds of copper, 1.0 million ounces of gold and 83 million pounds of molybdenum. This is in comparison to 3.70 billion pounds of copper, 1.4 million ounces of gold and 79 million pounds of molybdenum for the year 2011.

Consolidated unit net cash costs (net of by-product credits) averaged $1.54 per pound of copper for fourth-quarter 2012, in comparison to $1.57 per pound for fourth-quarter 2011. The company is estimating, based on various factors, that their consolidated unit net cash costs (net of by-product credits) will average $1.35 per pound of copper for the year 2013. Mr. James R. Moffett, Chairman of the Board, and Mr. Richard C. Adkerson, President and CEO said, “We are focused on executing our strategy of developing long-term resources in a cost effective and financially attractive manner to generate long-term value for shareholders.” Getting consolidated unit net cash costs down is one way to do it and this will contribute to value for investors if the company’s successful in this strategy.

I also like Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc. (NYSE:FCX)’s focus; their Capital Expenditures were $976 million for fourth-quarter 2012 and $3.5 billion for the year 2012. This compares to $785 million for fourth-quarter 2011 and $2.5 billion for the year 2011. They expect Capital Expenditures to approximate $4.6 billion for the year 2013 (excluding amounts for pending acquisitions). This includes $2.8 billion for major projects and $1.8 billion for sustaining capital. For investors, the positive here is the company’s plan to grow their copper production from 3.66 billion pounds in 2012 to more than 5 billion pounds per year in 2015.

The article The Whistling of Copper Kettles originally appeared on Fool.com and is written by Michael Ugulini.

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