Freeport-McMoRan Inc. swung to first-quarter loss as the company
was hit by another big write-down of its oil-and-gas assets, while
its mining business also was hit by weak commodity prices.
Shares fell 2.3% to $20.10 in recent premarket trading.
Freeport-McMoRan in January said it had slashed its capital
budget for the year and is searching for outside funding for its
oil-and-gas business as the mining company looks to shield itself
from plummeting commodity prices.
Phoenix-based Freeport, one of the world's largest copper
producers, expanded into oil and gas with 2013 acquisitions of
energy explorers McMoRan Exploration and Plains Exploration
Production. Recent drops in oil and copper prices have pressured
the company.
Overall, Freeport-McMoRan reported a loss of $2.48 billion,
compared with a year-earlier profit of $500 million. On a per-share
basis, which reflects preferred dividend impacts, the company
recorded a loss of $2.38, compared with a year-earlier loss of 49
cents.
Excluding asset write-downs and other items, the per-share loss
was six cents. Revenue decreased 17% to $4.15 billion.
Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected per-share loss of
seven cents and revenue of $4.06 billion.
Write to Tess Stynes at tess.stynes@wsj.com
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