In the second quarter of 2025, MP Materials' (MP -1.63%) revenue declined sequentially from the first quarter. Its adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) and earnings both fell deeper into the red. That's not a change that most investors will find pleasing to read, but the company's future remains very bright.
Here's why MP Materials' growth isn't stalling, even though there's a lot of heavy lifting for the company to do from here.
What does MP Materials do?
MP Materials mines for and processes rare earth metals. These metals are vital to the technology sector and get used in everything from cellphones to missiles. That said, MP Materials is really best viewed as a mining company.
Image source: Getty Images.
That's important because mining is a very capital-intensive business. A company has to find a place to mine, get approval for it, build the mine, operate it (in this case also process the output into usable rare earth metals products), and then return the mine back to its pre-mine state once it is depleted. MP Materials is really just at the very beginning of this process, which is the most expensive from a capital investment point of view.
That said, MP Materials finds itself in a very enviable position thanks to geopolitical issues. The new U.S. tariff regime has led to friction with China, which is the world's largest producer of rare earth metals. China has been very willing to limit access to these vital metals as it vies for the best tariff deal. That, essentially, has put the world on notice that China can't be counted on as a supplier of rare earth metals.
MP Materials has a huge opportunity to exploit
MP Materials didn't just magically find itself here. The company's specific goal was to create a rare earth metals supplier that is located in an economically and politically stable region. The company is exactly where it wanted to be and that is leading to a huge influx of cash.
The U.S. government has invested in MP Materials. Apple has inked a sizable deal with the company. And, after the stock advance following these two events, the company was able to sell shares into the market at attractive prices. Demand was so strong for MP Materials' stock that it was able to sell more shares than it had originally planned.
This is all very good news from a growth perspective. It means that MP Materials has the cash it needs to keep building out its business. And that, in turn, means that it still has a huge growth opportunity ahead that will be easier to achieve since access to capital is less of a constraint. If anything, the growth opportunity isn't stalling out, it is getting more attractive.
Don't expect instant results at MP Materials
Despite the positives here, there's still one small problem. MP Materials is a young miner that is building out its business. That takes time and will likely mean red ink for at least a while longer.
MP Materials stock is up over 350% over the past year, with most of that gain coming after the U.S. government's investment in the company. So while the business has huge growth potential, a lot of that appears to have been priced into the stock in a very short period of time. Investors should probably tread cautiously with MP Materials, which looks like it has become a story stock at this point.
If the story doesn't happen as expected (including as quickly as expected), the shares could quickly turn lower again even if the long-term opportunity for the business remains robust.
