Is MP Materials Stock a Buy After Earnings?

MP Materials (NYSE: MP) was America's favorite rare earth mining stock last year -- or, at least, one of the Trump administration's favorite rare earth miners.

Indeed, MP stock tripled in 2025, with much of those gains occurring after the Pentagon's public-private partnership with MP was announced last July. At one point last year, MP was up more than 400%, before giving back much of those gains last October. Fast forward to today, and MP Materials is trading about 45% lower than its 52-week high.

But don't let that red number fool you: Despite the stock's sell-off, which was really just a valuation correction, MP is growing stronger and healthier. The stock might not repeat last year's performance. Yet if its recent earnings tell us anything, it's that MP deserves a second look. Here's what you should know.

MP is getting more value from Mountain Pass

The big takeaway from MP's second quarter was revenue growth. MP managed to pull in about $108 million last quarter, a roughly 89% positive change year-over-year, while adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) swung from a $12.5 loss to positive $28.5 million.

The company also reported $17.6 million in Pentagon-related price-protection income. Remember how the Department of Defense agreed last year to a price floor of $110 per kilogram for MP's neodymium-praseodymium (NdPr)? Well, market prices for this vital rare earth compound apparently fell below that level, and the government made up the difference in a roughly $18 million payment.

Doubling quarterly revenue was impressive, but it's not the reason this quarter left a strong impression on me. That's owed to the fact that MP is now selling a much more refined NdPr product, while subsequently profiting more from the NdPr that it's selling. That might sound confusing, so let me put it into perspective.

Image source: MP Materials.

For much of its life, MP sold rare-earth concentrate to Chinese companies, which would then use chemicals to free the rare-earth elements from the ore. Rare-earth concentrate has valuable rare earth elements, but since they need to be freed, the concentrate is worth less than selling those rare-earth elements outright.

Starting last April, however, MP began to cease selling concentrate, due mainly to the trade war between the U.S. and China. The benefit of that is that MP is now processing the concentrate in-house. This requires more work, but the resulting product is worth more money.

Just consider this: In Q2 2025, MP earned about $25 million in NdPr oxide and metal revenue, with about $12 million from concentrate revenue. This last quarter, it had zero revenue from concentrate sales, and $95 million from oxide and metal revenue. Big jump right? And in the right direction, too.

Is MP Materials a buy after its last earnings?

MP Material's economics are improving, and its raking in more revenue. For me, the next test is whether its second magnet factory (10X) is on track for commissioning in 2028, as well as prove later that it can scale magnets production significantly. I would not buy MP with the expectation that it will triple in 12 months like it did in 2025, but opening a position at today's price could be worthwhile if you want exposure to American rare-earth mining.

Steven Porrello has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends MP Materials. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.