There seems to be a general consensus; everybody loves Freeport McMoRan Copper & Gold (NYSE: FCX). The problem is when I look at the metrics I do too. Every company would like to have such problems. Yesterday the stock closed up over 4% to $97.94 and was even higher during the day.

Just this morning Morgan Stanley raised earning estimates to $10.95 a share, stating the company stands to benefit from higher copper prices giving FCX an 'Overweight' rating and $125 price target. Last month Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS) added Freeport-McMoRan to its Conviction Buy list. There were also favorable stories in Barron's and Smart Money recently.

It makes me uncomfortable to be in the same camp with a multitude of analysts and financial journalists. What is the contrarian position? I suppose that would be if copper prices do not hold up. If copper and gold prices stay where they are the metrics portray this stock as a screaming buy. James Cramer would probably be throwing things by now.

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Chasing Value: Everybody loves Freeport McMoRan Copper & Gold (FCX) originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 20 Feb 2008 17:39:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.