80°F
weather icon Clear

Molycorp shrinks loss but misses Wall Street forecast

Molycorp shares plunged Tuesday after the company's first-quarter net income and revenue both fell short of analysts' estimates.

The net loss of $909,000, or 3 cents a share, marked a reduction from the loss of $7.7 million, or 16 cents a share, a year earlier.

The revenues of $26.3 million marked a more than eightfold increase from one year ago, primarily because mining operations restarted late in 2010 after being dormant for more than eight years. Molycorp owns the open-pit rare- earths mine in Mountain Pass, Calif., about 15 miles south of Primm.

Despite the improvement, six analysts polled by Yahoo Finance predicted a profit of 10 cents a share and revenues of $41.7 million. As a result, Molycorp shares fell $5.13, or 7.16 percent, to close at $66.47 on the New York Stock Exchange. The shares fell further in after-hours trading, dipping $3.80, or 5.72 percent, to reach $62.67 at 7 p.m. PDT.

Molycorp has been one of the wildest rides on Wall Street over the past year. It went public in late July at $14, and has zoomed to a peak of $79.16 on May 3.

The driver has been the fear that China, which produces about 97 percent of the world's supply of rare earths, is constricting exports. Rare earths are 17 ores that are key ingredients for components in high-tech applications ranging from iPhones to laser-guided bombs.

MOST READ
Don't miss the big stories. Like us on Facebook.
THE LATEST
Walmart makes a controversial move affecting job seekers

Now, job seekers face another setback after Walmart, one of the nation’s largest employers, has made a controversial decision that could affect thousands of potential workers.

MORE STORIES