** Shares of MP Materials Corp MP.N fall 1.6% to $12.48 premarket
** Co reports Q2 adj. loss of 17 cents/shr, bigger than estimate of 9 cents/shr- LSEG data
** Reports 43% lower sales of rare earths concentrate from year-ago
** Expects production of and praseodymium (NdPr) to double in Q3
COMMERCIAL CONTRACTS BOOST CONFIDENCE
** D.A. Davidson (PT $24, "buy") says "Q2 2024 sales $9 mln light of our view" but "additional impressive commercial successes during the quarter, including NdPr supply contracts signed with the Department of Defense and a major global auto OEM"
** TD Cowen (PT $22, "buy") says production impacted by downtime, but ramp up of operations at Stage II, "growing downstream commitments and gov't support could suggest compelling future demand signals"
** Jefferies ("buy") cuts PT to $21 from $24, but says "company making solid headway on optimization and cost reduction in its separations business, which should help MP improve its output and cost per unit in H2 2024"
** MP down ~36% YTD as of last close
(Reporting by Seher Dareen in Bengaluru)