Critical Contrast: Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) versus Fortuna Mining (NYSE:FSM)

Fortuna Mining (NYSE:FSM) and Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) are both materials companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their profitability, earnings, dividends, analyst recommendations, risk, valuation and institutional ownership.

Risk and Volatility

Fortuna Mining has a beta of 1.02, indicating that its stock price is 2% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Freeport-McMoRan has a beta of 1.38, indicating that its stock price is 38% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

33.8% of Fortuna Mining shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 80.8% of Freeport-McMoRan shares are owned by institutional investors. 1.0% of Fortuna Mining shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 0.7% of Freeport-McMoRan shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Profitability

This table compares Fortuna Mining and Freeport-McMoRan’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Fortuna Mining	31.99%	17.48%	12.88%
Freeport-McMoRan	13.03%	12.09%	6.50%

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current ratings for Fortuna Mining and Freeport-McMoRan, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Fortuna Mining	0	1	4	0	2.80
Freeport-McMoRan	0	4	20	1	2.88

Fortuna Mining currently has a consensus target price of $14.00, indicating a potential upside of 49.02%. Freeport-McMoRan has a consensus target price of $75.30, indicating a potential upside of 19.71%. Given Fortuna Mining’s higher probable upside, equities research analysts clearly believe Fortuna Mining is more favorable than Freeport-McMoRan.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Fortuna Mining and Freeport-McMoRan”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Fortuna Mining	$947.06 million	2.94	$287.47 million	$1.18	7.96
Freeport-McMoRan	$25.91 billion	3.49	$2.20 billion	$2.38	26.43

Freeport-McMoRan has higher revenue and earnings than Fortuna Mining. Fortuna Mining is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Freeport-McMoRan, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Summary

Freeport-McMoRan beats Fortuna Mining on 10 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Fortuna Mining

Fortuna Mining Corp. engages in the precious and base metal mining in Argentina, Burkina Faso, Mexico, Peru, and Côte d’Ivoire. It operates through Mansfield, Sanu, Sango, Cuzcatlan, Bateas, and Corporate segments. The company primarily explores for silver, lead, zinc, and gold. Its flagship project is the Séguéla gold mine, which consists of approximately 62,000 hectares and is located in the Worodougou Region of the Woroba District, Côte d’Ivoire. The company was formerly known as Fortuna Silver Mines Inc. and changed its name to Fortuna Mining Corp. in June 2024. Fortuna Mining Corp. was incorporated in 1990 and is based in Vancouver, Canada.

About Freeport-McMoRan

Freeport-McMoRan Inc. engages in the mining of mineral properties in North America, South America, and Indonesia. It primarily explores for copper, gold, molybdenum, silver, and other metals. The company's assets include the Grasberg minerals district in Indonesia; Morenci, Bagdad, Safford, Sierrita, and Miami in Arizona; Chino and Tyrone in New Mexico; and Henderson and Climax in Colorado, North America, as well as Cerro Verde in Peru and El Abra in Chile. The company was formerly known as Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc. and changed its name to Freeport-McMoRan Inc. in July 2014. Freeport-McMoRan Inc. was incorporated in 1987 and is headquartered in Phoenix, Arizona.