UPDATE: Wellington Shields & Co. Initiates Coverage on Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold with Buy Rating, $41 PT on Solid Long-Term Fundamentals, Attractive Valuation

In a report published Thursday, Wellington Shields & Co. analyst Kuni Chen initiated coverage on

with a Buy rating and $41.00 price target. In the report, Wellington Shields & Co. noted, “After a tough year, copper & gold volume should recover in 2014. Copper volume should rise 10%+ and gold up 70%+. Freeport has good growth opportunities in both its mining and oil & gas E&P businesses. Freeport remains upbeat on its long term position in mining despite its recent move to diversify into oil & gas exploration & production. Debt paydown is the main priority. Freeport will use free cash flow and proceeds from non-core asset sales to de-lever the balance sheet. Targeted debt reduction is $8.5B by 2016. The company repaid debt quickly after its last major acquisition (Phelps Dodge). FCX is highly correlated with the copper price. We are using a $3.25/lb average price in 2014 vs. consensus of $3.33/lb. Forward copper expectations look fairly flat.” Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold closed on Wednesday at $33.51.