S&P lowers Freeport McMoran’s stocks in wake of earnings report

You’re calling me a gold bear?

Equity research analysts at Standard and Poor’s (S&P) lowered Freeport McMoran Copper & Gold (NYSE:FCX) shares from “buy” to “hold.”

“After a recent sharp rise, we think FCX is fairly valued, currently trading at about 8.6X our estimate for ’13,” said analyst Leo Larkin in his Friday note to investors.

The miner, considered to be the world’s lowest cost producer of copper and a major producer of gold, also got its stock restated to “buy” by analysts at Canaccord Genuity, in a research report issued to clients and investors Friday.

They presently have a $48.00 price target on the stock for the Arizona-based company.

Freeport McMoran is scheduled to report earnings on Monday.

The company missed estimates last quarter, after beating forecasts in the prior two. In the second quarter, the company reported profit of 74 cents per share versus a mean estimate of net income of 75 cents per share. In the first quarter, the company beat estimates by 11 cents.