Al Root

Shares of undersea mining start-up The Metals Company have been on a tear recently. They are jumping again after catching an upgrade to Buy.

"Multiple tailwinds have recently emerged, accelerating [the] timeline of [this] growth story," wrote Wedbush analyst Dan Ives in a Wednesday report. He upgraded TMC stock to Buy from Hold, and lifted his price target to $11 from $6.

Importantly, President Donald Trump signed an executive order in April allowing the company to bypass the U.N. International Seabed Authority to receive a permit to begin commercial production in the Clarion Clipperton Zone, or CCZ.

This isn't a traditional mine. The CCZ is in the Pacific Ocean between Hawaii and Mexico.

Ordinary mining operations involve digging up ore that is crushed, concentrated, leached with acid, and refined. The material, mostly nickel, in the CCZ is contained in nodules with much higher concentrations of metal than land-based ores.

The nodules form a little like pearls in an oyster. When production starts, TMC will essentially vacuum up the nodules into a stationary ship that holds about 30,000 metric tons of product.

"TMC is well-positioned to emerge as a critical enabler of U.S. supply-chain independence through increased urgency from intensifying trade tensions with China," added Ives.

The CCZ is "filled with rare earths as well," CEO Gerard Barron recently told Barron's in an interview. "But we're not focused on them in the first phase of our processing."

Rare earth metals have been in focus since China threatened to reduce exports of the materials used in magnets for electric motors, among other things. China processes an estimated 80% of the world's supply of rare earth materials.

TMC stock was up 20% in early trading at $7.93 in early trading, while the S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average were up 0.2% and down 0.1%, respectively.

Early gains left shares up 31% over the past week and 69% over the past month. A confluence of factors from politics to trade to Wall Street has pushed shares higher.

Five analysts cover TMC stock, according to FactSet, and now all have Buy ratings. The average Buy-rating ratio for stocks in the S&P 500 is about 55%. The average analyst price target is about $8 a share.

TMC has not generated material sales yet. Those are supposed to arrive in 2027, according to FactSet estimates.

Recent gains left the company with a market value of almost $3 billion.

Write to Al Root at allen.root@dowjones.com

This content was created by Barron's, which is operated by Dow Jones & Co. Barron's is published independently from Dow Jones Newswires and The Wall Street Journal.

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

June 25, 2025 11:09 ET (15:09 GMT)

Copyright (c) 2025 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.