What are the best copper stocks to buy?

The best copper stocks to buy are BHP Group, Freeport-McMoRan, Rio Tinto, Southern Copper, and Teck Resources. These copper producers have extensive reserves, enabling them to grow their copper production in the future.

Are copper shares a good investment?

Shares of copper mining companies can be a good investment. According to an S&P Global estimate, copper demand could surge 50% by 2040, while BHP Group sees it rising 70% by 2050, powered by the transition to clean energy and AI data centers. Copper will play a crucial role in the energy transition because it's vital for electric vehicles and the increased electrification of the economy. Meanwhile, new data centers require copper for wiring, cables, circuit boards, and other electronic components. The trend should allow copper producers to increase their production while also driving up copper prices. The two catalysts should help copper producers increase their profits, sending their stock prices higher.

What is the biggest copper stock?

Freeport-McMoRan is the biggest copper stock. It's the third-largest copper producer in the world and the second-largest publicly traded company focused primarily on copper mining.

Which is the best copper ETF?

The best copper ETF is the Global X Copper Miners ETF (NYSEMKT: COPX). The fund provides investors with targeted exposure to the copper mining sector. As of October 2026, the fund had over $7.3 billion in assets under management and held 40 mining companies with sizeable copper mining operations, including Teck Resources (second-largest at 5.7% of its net assets), Southern Copper (third-largest at 5.4%), BHP Group (fourth-largest at 5.1%), and Freeport-McMoRan (fifth-largest at 5.1%). The ETF provides investors with broad sector exposure. The fund had a reasonable ETF expense ratio of 0.65%. It also offered a 0.2% income yield.

Which copper stock pays a dividend?

Several copper mining companies pay dividends, including BHP Group, Teck Resources, Freeport-McMoRan, Southern Copper, and Rio Tinto.

Is copper considered a cyclical or defensive investment?

Copper is a cyclical investment. Demand for copper tends to rise as the economy expands and declines during a recession.

Do copper stocks perform well during inflation?

Copper stocks can perform well during periods of inflation. Inflation tends to drive up commodity prices -- including copper -- which can help boost the share prices of copper producers.

What are the potential returns of investing in copper stocks?

The potential returns of investing in copper stocks are theoretically unlimited. However, the top five publicly traded copper companies (BHP Group, Rio Tinto, Freeport-McMoRan, Southern Copper, and Teck Resources) have all delivered average annualized total returns above 10% over the last decade (as of early October 2026), with Southern Copper leading at almost 24%. Several have outpaced the S&P 500's average annual total return of 13.5% during that period. Given the expected growth in copper demand, copper stocks have the potential of delivering double-digit annualized total returns over the coming decades.

Who are the top 5 copper producers?

The top five copper miners by attributable production in 2025 were:BHP Group: 1.47 million metric tonsCodelco: 1.44 million metric tonsFreeport McMoRan: 1.1 million metric tonsSouthern Copper: 953,338 metric tonsZijin Mining: 885,567 metric tons

What is the best copper stock to buy today under $5?

None of the top copper stocks traded below $5 per share. However, many brokers allow you to buy fractional shares, enabling you to invest less than $5 in a top copper stock such as Rio Tinto, BHP Group, Southern Copper, Teck Resources, and Freeport-McMoRan.

5 Best Copper Stocks for 2026 and How to Invest

By Matthew DiLallo – Updated Oct 5, 2026 at 9:29 AM EST | Fact-checked by Frank Bass

Key Points

Copper demand is projected to increase by up to 70% by 2050.
BHP Group, the largest copper producer, plans to expand copper production by 40% by 2035.
Copper stocks can deliver growth and dividend income.

Copper stocks are publicly traded companies that mine copper. These companies will be the key beneficiaries of growing copper demand in the coming decades. Demand for copper is on track to surge 50% by 2040, according to S&P Global, and 70% by 2050, according to an estimate by leading global miner BHP Group (BHP +0.88%), both driven in part by the need for copper in AI data centers.

Other key drivers are the vital role copper plays in supporting the electrification of the transportation sector and producing renewable energy. For example, according to the International Copper Association, electric vehicles use up to four times as much copper as traditional cars. Meanwhile, a wind turbine consumes 3 metric tons of copper per megawatt of power produced, according to the International Energy Agency.

This outlook bodes well for the copper industry. It suggests that copper prices could be much higher in the coming years. Here's a closer look at some of the top copper stocks that could benefit from the transition.

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Industry business production and heavy metallurgical industrial products. — Image source: Getty Images.

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5 top copper stocks for 2026

Copper is the third-most-consumed industrial metal in the world behind iron and aluminum, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. Because of its importance to the economy, many mining companies operate copper mines.

However, while many companies produce copper, only a few can expand production from reserves and through commercially viable expansion projects. These resources position them to capitalize on the industry's growth. The five best copper stocks for investors to consider right now are:

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Ticker Information Table
Name and ticker	Market capMarket cap calculated using publicly traded shares outstanding only. Does not include unlisted, private, or dual-class non-traded shares. Implied market cap may vary.	Current price	Dividend yield
BHP Group (NYSE:BHP)	$218.7 billion	$86.83	4.00%
Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX)	$103.5 billion	$72.60	0.42%
Rio Tinto Group (NYSE:RIO)	$118.2 billion	$95.65	4.94%
Teck Resources (NYSE:TECK)	$33.6 billion	$67.87	0.53%
Southern Copper (NYSE:SCCO)	$173.5 billion	$205.29	1.92%

Data as of Oct 5, 2026. Showing 5 of 5 total entries.

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Here's a closer look at these five leading copper stocks.

1. BHP Group

NYSE: BHP

BHP Group

Premium Feature

Moneyball Superscore

85/100

Today's Change

(0.88%) $0.76

Current Price

$86.83

Key Data Points

Market Cap

$219B

Day's Range

$85.56 - $87.37

52wk Range

$52.18 - $98.71

Volume

2.6M

Avg Vol

2.6M

Gross Margin

39.13%

Dividend Yield

4.00%

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BHP Group is an Australia-based leading global natural resource producer that mines copper, iron ore, nickel, metallurgical coal, and potash. According to BHP's 2026 annual report, it's the world's largest copper producer. Copper, including byproducts such as gold, accounted for slightly more than half of its earnings.

BHP operates several copper mines in South America (including the world's largest copper mine, Escondida) and one in Australia. The company expects its total copper production to be between 1.8 million and 2 million tons in 2026. It's investing heavily to expand copper production at existing mines to meet growing demand.

It's also a co-owner of Resolution Copper with Rio Tinto (45%/55%), one of the world's largest undeveloped copper projects. It could take eight to 10 years to build the mine at an estimated total cost of $64 billion. Resolution Copper has the potential to produce 40 billion pounds of copper over 40 years, about a quarter of projected U.S. copper demand. BHP also acquired a 30% interest in Faraday Copper in 2026 after Faraday acquired BHP's San Manuel property to support its plans of building a new copper hub in Arizona by combining San Manuel with its adjacent Copper Creek project. These and other projects support BHP's plans to grow its copper-equivalent production by up to 40% by 2035.

BHP Group reported strong annual earnings in August 2026, driven by record copper prices. It made more money from copper ($18.2 billion in operating earnings) than from any other metal, surpassing iron ore as its top profit source.

The company's growing copper production should support higher dividend payments. BHP aims to pay out at least 50% of its cash flow in dividends each year. It paid its highest annual dividend in 2026, driven by record copper prices.

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2. Freeport-McMoRan

NYSE: FCX

Freeport-McMoRan

Premium Feature

Moneyball Superscore

70/100

Today's Change

(0.78%) $0.56

Current Price

$72.60

Key Data Points

Market Cap

$103B

Day's Range

$71.42 - $73.52

52wk Range

$38.40 - $80.24

Volume

13.7M

Avg Vol

13.6M

Gross Margin

24.55%

Dividend Yield

0.42%

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Freeport-McMoRan (FCX +0.78%) is the world's largest publicly traded copper-focused company. It also produces gold and molybdenum, an element used in high-strength steel alloys.

The crown jewel of Freeport's portfolio is the Grasberg mine in Indonesia, the world's second-largest copper mine and largest gold mine. While production at that mine has been lower in 2026 due to a September 2025 accident, the company is ramping up to restart production by the end of 2026. It also applied to extend its operating permit beyond 2041, which it hopes to receive by year-end.

Freeport also operates large-scale mines in Arizona and Peru. The company produced 3.4 billion pounds of copper in 2025, with its operations accounting for 70% of U.S. refined copper production.

Freeport's extensive organic development pipeline could add significant copper production in the coming years. Initiatives to improve leaching (a chemical process used to extract copper from ore) and a potential change in leaching technology could add 800 million pounds to its annual production capacity by the end of 2030. Meanwhile, several potential expansion projects could add significant production capacity in the medium and long term, including the $3.5 billion Bagdad expansion project in Arizona and the $7.5 billion El Abra expansion in Chile.

The mining company's growing copper production should support increasing cash returns to shareholders. Freeport has set a framework to allocate up to 50% of its excess cash flow to shareholder returns, including dividends and share repurchases.

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Cash Flow

Cash flow is how we measure the actual money flowing through a business that can sometimes be hidden behind complexities.

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3. Teck Resources

NYSE: TECK

Teck Resources

Premium Feature

Moneyball Superscore

72/100

Today's Change

(-1.01%) $-0.69

Current Price

$67.87

Key Data Points

Market Cap

$34B

Day's Range

$67.07 - $68.64

52wk Range

$38.00 - $72.56

Volume

2.2M

Avg Vol

3.2M

Gross Margin

33.97%

Dividend Yield

0.53%

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Teck Resources (TECK -1.01%) is a Canadian mining company. It has world-class copper and zinc operations across North and South America, as well as an industry-leading copper growth pipeline.

The company agreed to a merger of equals with Anglo American (NGLOY -0.32%). The transaction will create a larger-scale, copper-focused mining company (with copper accounting for more than 70% of its production). The new company, to be named Anglo Teck, will hold an industry-leading portfolio featuring world-class copper assets and high-quality, premium iron ore and zinc businesses.

Anglo Teck will own interests in five leading copper mines across Canada, Chile, and Peru. It will be a top-five global producer with meaningful growth potential (10% production growth through 2027). The companies expect to close the deal by early 2027.

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4. Southern Copper

NYSE: SCCO

Southern Copper

Premium Feature

Moneyball Superscore

79/100

Today's Change

(-0.12%) $-0.25

Current Price

$205.29

Key Data Points

Market Cap

$174B

Day's Range

$203.52 - $207.63

52wk Range

$115.69 - $220.78

Volume

957.8K

Avg Vol

1.1M

Gross Margin

57.82%

Dividend Yield

1.92%

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Southern Copper (SCCO -0.12%) is one of the world's largest integrated copper producers. It operates copper mines in Mexico and Peru. The company is majority-owned by Grupo Mexico (GMBXF +1.67%), a conglomerate focused on mining, transportation, and infrastructure.

Southern Copper is the world's second-largest publicly traded copper-focused company. According to the company, it has some of the lowest copper production costs in the industry and holds the world's largest copper reserves among publicly traded copper producers. That provides ample opportunity for it to expand its output.

Southern Copper sees significant production growth ahead. The company's board has approved several projects that will increase its output by 156,000 tons by 2029. Meanwhile, it has many other projects in the pipeline that could add another 545,000 tons to its annual output by 2033. Its current capital investment program for this next decade exceeds $20.5 billion, split evenly between projects in Peru and Mexico.

Its robust copper growth pipeline and low costs position Southern Copper well to capitalize on rising demand.

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5. Rio Tinto

NYSE: RIO

Rio Tinto Group

Premium Feature

Moneyball Superscore

74/100

Today's Change

(1.53%) $1.44

Current Price

$95.65

Key Data Points

Market Cap

$118B

Day's Range

$94.11 - $96.23

52wk Range

$65.34 - $112.58

Volume

2.6M

Avg Vol

2.3M

Gross Margin

26.70%

Dividend Yield

4.94%

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Rio Tinto (RIO +1.53%) is a diversified global mining company based in the U.K. It produces aluminum, copper, diamonds, gold, industrial minerals, iron ore, and uranium. It also produces other basic materials, including borates, lithium, salt, and titanium dioxide. It was the world's top iron ore producer and among the 10 largest copper miners, based on its 2025 output. Copper accounted for 39% of its earnings in the first half of 2026.

The company's copper business consists of two large-scale mining operations:

Rio Tinto operates the Kennecott mine in Utah. The world-class copper mine also produces silver and gold.
The company has a 66% interest in Oyu Tolgoi, a copper and gold deposit in Mongolia, one of the world's largest known deposits. By 2030, Oyu Tolgoi should be the world's fourth-largest copper-producing mine.

Rio Tinto has several copper-related growth projects in the pipeline, including Winu in Australia. Discovered in 2017, the Winu copper and gold resource has the potential to become a large-scale mining operation. In 2025, Rio Tinto signed an agreement with Sumitomo Metal Mining to jointly develop its Winu copper-gold project.

In 2026, Rio Tinto signed a deal with Amazon (AMZN -0.05%) to supply it with copper for data center construction. Rio Tinto will deploy a new method that uses bacteria and acid to extract copper from low-grade deposits previously uneconomical to process. Amazon and other data center developers need a lot of copper for wiring, busbars, circuit boards, transformers, and other electrical components used in AI data centers.

How to buy copper stocks

Here's a step-by-step guide on how to invest in copper stocks:

Open your brokerage app: Log in to your brokerage account where you handle your investments. If you don't have one yet, take a look at our favorite brokers and trading platforms to find the right one for you.
Search for the stock: Enter the ticker into the search bar to bring up the stock's trading page.
Decide how many shares to buy: Consider your investment goals and how much of your portfolio you want to allocate to this stock.
Select order type: Choose between a market order to buy at the current price or a limit order to specify the maximum price you're willing to pay.
Submit your order: Confirm the details and submit your buy order.
Review your purchase: Check your portfolio to ensure your order was filled as expected and adjust your investment strategy accordingly.

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Benefits and risks of investing in copper stocks

Some of the benefits of investing in copper stocks include:

Capitalizing on the expected growth in copper demand.
The ability to collect passive income from dividends.
Hedging your portfolio against some of the impacts of inflation.
The potential for an individual copper stock to outperform the price of copper and other copper stocks.

Meanwhile, some of the risks of investing in copper stocks include:

Copper price volatility.
Mining cost overruns.
Geopolitical issues.
A copper stock underperforms the price of copper.

Methodology: How these stocks were chosen

Copper is one of the three most widely used industrial metals. As a result, many mining companies have some copper operations. This group of companies stood out from other miners for having large-scale, low-cost copper operations. They also have strong financial profiles and visible copper growth profiles. These factors put them in the strongest position to capitalize on growing copper demand.

Should you invest in copper stocks?

The combination of rising copper production and prices should enable copper miners to increase their cash flows, pay rising dividends, repurchase more shares, and deliver attractive total returns. The upside potential makes the copper industry attractive to many investors.

As an alternative to buying one of the top copper mining stocks, investors could consider investing in an exchange-traded fund (ETF) focused on copper. Copper ETFs provide similar upside exposure to rising copper prices. An ETF focused on copper mining stocks is less risky than investing in a single copper mining company, which could underperform for various reasons.

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Investing in copper stocks: FAQ

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About the Author

Matt DiLallo has been a contributing Motley Fool stock analyst specializing in the energy, industrials, and real estate sectors since 2012. He also covers dividend-paying stocks, pre-IPO companies, ETFs, and other investing topics. He holds an MBA from Liberty University.

TMFmd19

@MatthewDiLallo

Matthew DiLallo has positions in BHP Group. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Teck Resources. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

5 Best Copper Stocks for 2026 and How to Invest

Key Points

5 top copper stocks for 2026

1. BHP Group

Key Data Points

2. Freeport-McMoRan

Key Data Points

3. Teck Resources

Key Data Points

4. Southern Copper

Key Data Points

5. Rio Tinto

Key Data Points

How to buy copper stocks

Benefits and risks of investing in copper stocks

Methodology: How these stocks were chosen

Should you invest in copper stocks?

The Largest Stock Market Companies in 2026

What Are the 11 Stock Market Sectors?

Different Types of Stocks to Invest In and How to Choose the Right Ones

4 Best Glass Stocks for 2026 and How to Invest

Investing in copper stocks: FAQ

What are the best copper stocks to buy?

What are the best copper stocks to buy?

Are copper shares a good investment?

Are copper shares a good investment?

What is the biggest copper stock?

What is the biggest copper stock?

Which is the best copper ETF?

Which is the best copper ETF?

Which copper stock pays a dividend?

Which copper stock pays a dividend?

Is copper considered a cyclical or defensive investment?

Is copper considered a cyclical or defensive investment?

Do copper stocks perform well during inflation?

Do copper stocks perform well during inflation?

What are the potential returns of investing in copper stocks?

What are the potential returns of investing in copper stocks?

Who are the top 5 copper producers?

Who are the top 5 copper producers?

What is the best copper stock to buy today under $5?

What is the best copper stock to buy today under $5?

About the Author

Read Next

Stocks Mentioned

Motley Fool Stock Advisor’s Latest Pick

Premium Investing Services

5 top copper stocks for 2026

Key Data Points

Key Data Points

Key Data Points

Key Data Points

How to buy copper stocks

Benefits and risks of investing in copper stocks

Methodology: How these stocks were chosen

Should you invest in copper stocks?

The Largest Stock Market Companies in 2026

What Are the 11 Stock Market Sectors?

Different Types of Stocks to Invest In and How to Choose the Right Ones

4 Best Glass Stocks for 2026 and How to Invest

Investing in copper stocks: FAQ

What are the best copper stocks to buy?

What are the best copper stocks to buy?

Are copper shares a good investment?

Are copper shares a good investment?

What is the biggest copper stock?

What is the biggest copper stock?

Which is the best copper ETF?

Which is the best copper ETF?

Which copper stock pays a dividend?

Which copper stock pays a dividend?

Is copper considered a cyclical or defensive investment?

Is copper considered a cyclical or defensive investment?

Do copper stocks perform well during inflation?

Do copper stocks perform well during inflation?

What are the potential returns of investing in copper stocks?

What are the potential returns of investing in copper stocks?

Who are the top 5 copper producers?

Who are the top 5 copper producers?

What is the best copper stock to buy today under $5?