MP Materials Gains on BMO Upgrade, DoD–Maaden JV

MP Materials shares climbed about 12.3% over the week after a BMO analyst upgraded the stock from “hold” to “buy” and set a $75 price target.

The analyst cited a recent sell-off as a potential entry point and pointed to growing long-term support for the business, including a new strategic partnership involving the U.S. Department of Defense and Saudi Arabia’s Ma’aden. Under the arrangement, MP Materials and the DoD will hold a 49% stake in a joint venture with Ma’aden to build a rare‑earth refinery in Saudi Arabia, bolstering supply-chain diversification outside China.

Those developments build on an earlier DoD agreement that included a $400 million investment and a decade-long magnet purchase commitment, and a separate roughly $500 million supply partnership with a major electronics customer.

The combination of secured off‑take, public‑private backing and new refinery plans improves MP’s strategic positioning in magnets and rare‑earths. However, outlook remains subject to commodity-price volatility, geopolitical risk, and execution challenges tied to facility construction and scaling. Investors should weigh the strengthened demand visibility against operational and political uncertainties as the company executes on expansion plans.