If you have not heard of “rare earth” minerals, that would not be surprising.  You may remember “rare earth elements” when you took chemistry, in high school.  

If you have heard of rare earth mining and production, that is probably in relation to President Trump’s imposition of tariffs – and in particular, on tariffs imposed on China’s exports.  

China has some of the biggest known deposits of rare earth minerals in the world, and whether imports of China’s rare earth minerals into the US will continue is an open question.

Rare earth minerals are crucial components of electronics products, catalytic converters for vehicles, the magnets used in electric motors, and advanced technology products.  Obviously, rare earth minerals are an important if unrecognized value to our lives and they support our high standard of living.

But China is definitely not the whole story.  

MP Materials (stock symbol “MP” on the New York Stock Exchange) is a US company which has a mining site in the mountains of San Bernardino, California.  MP also has a processing facility in Texas.

MP’s website claims that Mountain Pass is “home to one of the world’s richest and most significant rare earth deposits.  As the only site of its kind in the Western Hemisphere, Mountain Pass integrates mining, milling, flotation, separation, refining, and finishing, delivering unmatched efficiency and scale.”

According to MP Materials, the Mountain Pass site contains “more than 10% of the world’s rare earth content.”  They go on to say they have invested “nearly $1 billion to restore the full rare earth supply chain in the United States.”

Who is MP Materials?  

The MP Materials website states that “For over 75 years, Mountain Pass has been a cornerstone of global rare earth production.  Once renowned as the world's richest and most reliable source, the site faced years of underinvestment and operational challenges around the turn of the century.  In 2015, production was idled.  Then, in 2017, MP Materials was founded to revive Mountain Pass — bringing it back to life with renewed strength. Today, the site is more productive than ever, setting new records and serving as the foundation for a full rare earth supply chain in the United States.”

MP Materials has a market capitalization of $4.3 billion.  The stock has been publicly traded only since 2020.  As of April 17th, the stock’s price was $26.35 per share.  

According to https://www.nasdaq.com/market-activity/stocks/mp the projected one-year target price of the stock is $29.  MP’s P/E ratio is 45.43 – a little high (17 is considered the norm), reflecting the spike in the stock’s price since April 14th.  However, the stock’s price has been on a fairly steady climb since August 2024.  

Is MP Stock a Good Investment?

The need for rare earth materials in support of US industrial development is undeniable.  

The connection of US industrial development with China’s production of rare earth materials seems to have been severed by President Trump.  Will he negotiate with the Chinese to re-open their exports to the US?  

That seems unlikely.  President Trump understands the importance of developing a US capability in materials that support the US economy.  That suggests MP stock may be a good buy.  But will the next President backtrack on that stance, in 2029?  Trump’s American-centric principles are popular with the American public, and are supported by Congress.  Backtracking seems unlikely.

MP is a young company.  Is the stock a good opportunity for investment?  Going forward, the quality of the Executive Team, their goals, strategy, and decisions will be the deciding factors in determining the future path of MP Materials.

The MP stock is an intriguing stock, and will certainly be worth watching, in any case.

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