Morgan Stanley Downgrades Freeport-McMoRan: Is the Copper Story Breaking Down at Grasberg?

2 hours ago 1

David Moadel

Fri, April 24, 2026 astatine 10:48 AM CDT 4 min read

  • Morgan Stanley downgraded Freeport-McMoRan (FCX) banal to Equal Weight from Overweight and chopped its terms people to $66 from $70, citing execution delays and higher costs astatine Grasberg that volition measurement connected shares done 2027.

  • Freeport-McMoRan’s Grasberg excavation successful Indonesia is recovering much dilatory than expected pursuing a September 2025 incident, pushing accumulation betterment to precocious 2027 and creating near-term borderline unit contempt intact semipermanent copper request from electrification and AI information halfway buildouts.

  • The expert who called NVIDIA successful 2010 conscionable named his apical 10 AI stocks. Get them present FREE.

Morgan Stanley downgraded Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) to Equal Weight from Overweight and chopped its terms people to $66 from $70, pointing to a slower accumulation ramp astatine the company's Grasberg Block Cave excavation successful Indonesia. The expert downgrade lands 1 time aft FCX posted a Q1 2026 net bushed ($0.57 adjusted EPS vs. $0.47 expected; $6.23 cardinal gross vs. $5.96 billion) that was overshadowed by sharply reduced full-year guidance.

For semipermanent copper bulls, the question is whether this is simply a impermanent intermission oregon a much meaningful setback for Freeport-McMoRan stock. The downgrade centers connected execution astatine Grasberg alternatively than the underlying request representation for copper, leaving investors to measurement near-term accumulation hazard against a multi-year structural thesis.

Ticker

Company

Firm

Action

Old Rating

New Rating

Old Target

New Target

FCX

Freeport-McMoRan

Morgan Stanley

Downgrade

Overweight

Equal Weight

$70

$66

Morgan Stanley's thesis is nuanced alternatively than outright bearish. The steadfast believes the semipermanent prospects of Grasberg Block Cave stay unchanged, but the slower ramp and temporarily higher costs volition measurement connected Freeport-McMoRan shares for immoderate time.

The expert who called NVIDIA successful 2010 conscionable named his apical 10 stocks. Get them present FREE.

The steadfast chopped its estimates to bespeak reduced output successful Indonesia and present sees a balanced risk/reward astatine existent levels for Freeport-McMoRan. That framing matters: this is simply a pacing telephone connected execution portion the copper thesis stays intact. See caller sum of copper miners worthy watching successful 2026 for broader assemblage context.

Freeport-McMoRan is 1 of the world's largest publically traded copper producers, with a marketplace capitalization adjacent $88.3 cardinal and operations spanning Arizona, Peru, Chile, and Indonesia. CEO Kathleen Quirk oversees a portfolio anchored by the Grasberg minerals district, 1 of the world's largest copper and golden deposits.

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