By Rob Delaney
Jan. 21 (Bloomberg) -- Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc., the world’s largest publicly traded copper producer, posted a fourth-quarter profit that topped analysts’ estimates after the economic recovery boosted metal prices.
Net income was $971 million, or $2.15 a share, compared with a loss of $13.9 billion, or $36.78, a year earlier, Phoenix-based Freeport said today in a statement. Excluding one- time items, the company earned $2.25 a share. Freeport was expected to have a profit of $1.75, the average estimate of 17 analysts surveyed by Bloomberg.
Chief Executive Officer Richard Adkerson is benefiting from copper prices that more than doubled last year as the U.S. economic recovery boosted demand for the metal used in pipes and wires. Industrial production in the U.S. rose 0.6 percent in December, the sixth straight monthly gain. Freeport’s sales more than doubled to $4.61 billion.
Freeport rose 18 cents to $83.70 at 8:20 a.m., before the start of regular New York Stock Exchange composite trading. The shares gained more than threefold last year.
To contact the reporter on this story: Rob Delaney in Toronto at robdelaney@bloomberg.net.
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