Needham sings praises for the American rare earth duo! MP Materials (MP.US) and USA Rare Earth (USAR.US) rose in response.

Investment bank Needham has initiated coverage of MP Materials (MP.US) and USA Rare Earth (USAR.US) for the first time, with a "buy" rating and price targets of $81 and $39 respectively. Boosted by this news, both rare earth stock saw gains on Monday with MP Materials up 7.09% and USA Rare Earth up 5.07%. For MP Materials, Needham analyst Carter Goman believes that as the largest rare earth material producer in the Western Hemisphere, MP Materials is a "clear leader" in the industry with a "first mover advantage". He sees the rare earth industry in the early stages of a multi-year investment cycle as global supply chains continue to diversify. The analyst notes that despite numerous announcements of new production capacity plans in the market, MP Materials has one of the highest probabilities of success in the industry due to the existing operational base at the Mountain Pass mine site and the strength of the company's management team. Goman writes, "As time moves into the latter half of this decade and the 2030s, market focus should return to demand growth, including the broader adoption of electric vehicles and the increasing deployment scale of future humanoid Siasun Robot & Automation." Regarding USA Rare Earth, the analyst believes that the company has built a unique asset portfolio across the entire industry value chain, coupled with a strong management team, positioning it to become a leading enterprise in driving the rare earth permanent magnet supply chain away from its long-term dependence on China. With the acquisition of Serra Verde expected to be completed in the third quarter, progress in integrating LCM business, and plans to start delivering the first batch of magnet products to customers in the second half of 2026, USA Rare Earth is said to be on the eve of a "large-scale capacity ramp-up". Goman points out that as these projects gradually take shape, USA Rare Earth is poised to establish a more complete domestic rare earth and magnet supply chain in the United States, benefiting from the trend of global supply chain restructuring.