optionMONSTER submits:

By Guy Adami

Freeport-McMoRan (FCX)

In the last couple of years the market’s favorite miner has been FCX, a company we have been watching closely on Advantage Point. Based in Phoenix, Freeport-McMoRan is one of the world’s largest producers of gold, but it may be best known for being the world’s lowest-cost copper producer.

The company acquired Phelps Dodge in 2007 in one of the greatest deals since the Angels stole Nolan Ryan from the Mets for Jim Fregosi. After flat-lining for most of 2006, FCX was off to the races from the start of 2007 to the summer of 2008. FCX began 2007 trading around the $58 before reaching an all-time high of $127.24 on May 21, 2008.

But like most of the commodity based stocks, Freeport-McMoRan “took the stairs up and the elevator down” in the back half of 2008. After making that May high, the stock traded as low as $15.70 by Dec. 5. That, my friends, is a precipitous drop. Since then, however, the shares have enjoyed a steady rebound. On Jan. 11 of this year, FCX made a new 52-week high of $90.55, which means that the shares have rallied some 476 percent.

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