Thursday, August 7, 2008

Copper company stocks fall faster than copper price

The price of copper is down 15% from its peak but the stock value of copper producers has fallen an average of 45% according to an analysis on Mineweb.com.

Stock price of Phoenix-based Freeport McMoRan, the world's biggest copper producer, has fallen by nearly a third. The story offered no easy explanations for the huge disparity between the falls in metal and producer prices.

Hit even harder is Arizona-based Southern Copper with a nearly 47% drop. While the article didn't mention it, this is the kind of situation that attracts takeover attention.


Stock

From

From

Value

price

high*

low*

USD bn

Freeport-McMoRan

USD 87.37

-31.3%

30.3%

33.48

Southern Copper

USD 24.90

-47.9%

6.6%

22.00