Freeport-McMoRan had 202 million pounds of copper sales sitting on a provisional price tag at June 30. That is a lot of metal waiting for a final number, and it frames a three-month period in which the operating business got smaller while reported profit got larger.
Revenue fell to $7.0 billion from $7.6 billion in the comparable period. Operating income dropped to $2.0 billion from $2.4 billion, pulling operating margin down 3.6 percentage points to 28.5%.
The company attributes the volume decline to lower operating rates at PT Freeport Indonesia during the phased ramp-up of the Grasberg Block Cave underground mine. Copper and gold sales both decreased, so the immediate filing reads less like a volume recovery than a mine transition still showing up in the income statement.
Freeport described the provisional copper exposure this way:
"At June 30, 2026, we had provisionally priced copper sales totaling 202 million pounds (99 million pounds net of intercompany sales and noncontrolling interests) recorded at an average price of $6.07 per pound, subject to final LME copper settlement prices over the next several months."
10-Q 2026-08-06
That price is not yet entirely final. Freeport estimates that each $0.05 change in the realized price would affect 2026 revenue by about $9 million and net income attributable to common stock by about $3 million. The filing puts a number on the exposure, even if it does not turn the period’s lower volumes into higher operating income.
Net income attributable to common stock rose 27.5% to $984 million from $772 million, and diluted earnings per share increased to $0.68 from $0.53. Net margin therefore rose to 14.0% from 10.2%, despite the operating-margin decline. Freeport does not provide a single explanation in the supplied filing receipts for the full net-income increase.
One disclosed item did help. Favorable adjustments to prior-period provisionally priced concentrate and cathode copper sales totaled $98 million in the latest three months, including a $35 million benefit to net income attributable to common stock. That is meaningful, but it is not large enough on its own to account for the entire $212 million increase in net income.
The balance-sheet signals are quieter but not irrelevant. Cash fell to $4.1 billion from $4.5 billion year over year, while operating cash flow declined to $2.048 billion from $2.195 billion. Capital expenditures also fell, to $1.104 billion from $1.261 billion. Operating cash flow nevertheless declined alongside spending in this period.
Management expects second-half copper sales volumes to increase as the Grasberg Block Cave ramp continues and leaching initiatives add production at US mines. It also expects 2026 production to exceed sales, with about 100 million pounds of copper and 50,000 ounces of gold deferred in inventory at PTFI’s smelting operations.
That leaves a specific comparison for Freeport’s next quarterly report: whether copper sales volumes have moved beyond the 202 million pounds still subject to final settlement, and whether the operating margin has recovered from 28.5%.
Source: Freeport-McMoRan’s 10-Q filed August 6, 2026, for the three months ended June 30, 2026.