It appears that Warren Buffett is not the only investor who thinks that now is a good time to invest in energy stocks. Activist investor Carl Icahn added 4 million class B shares of Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE: FCX) to his stake, bringing his share total in the mining and energy company to 104 million.

Freeport’s stock has been hammered since posting a recent high of $39.30 in July of 2014. That was just before the bottom began falling out of the energy market, a market the company had just paid around $19 billion (including about $11 billion in assumed debt) to get back into with acquisitions of McMoRan Exploration and Plains Exploration & Production. The price of copper had already dropped by about a quarter from high of around $4.50 a pound in January 2011 to around $2.50 a pound in the summer of 2014, on its way to around $2.00 a pound recently.

The value of Freeport’s assets has plummeted, and there’s certainly blood in the streets. The question is whether the bloodbath has stopped or at least slowed to a few drops. Icahn owns about 8.3% of Freeport’s outstanding shares and reached a deal with the company last October to name two members to Freeport’s 11-member board of directors. The company had previously cut the number of board seats from 16 to nine at Icahn’s recommendation.

The size of Icahn’s addition to his stake in Freeport is less important than the fact of it. Just about any way one looks at it, Freeport has a long way to go to recover its former luster. Earlier this week the company announced the sale of 13% in its Morenci mine for $1 billion, which the company said it will use against borrowings on its term and revolving loans.

In the noon hour Wednesday, Freeport’s shares traded up more than 15%, at $7.33 in a 52-week range of $3.52 to $23.97.

Thank you for reading! Have some feedback for us?
Contact the 24/7 Wall St. editorial team.