A rare-earth mining stock that went public through a SPAC merger (a special purpose acquisition company is a blank-check shell formed solely to take a private business onto public markets) now trades roughly 54% below its lifetime high. USA Rare Earth (NASDAQ: USAR) peaked at $43.98 per share in October 2025, when it was still a pre-merger holding company, months before its SPAC transaction closed in mid-March 2026. As of this writing, USAR trades at $17.66. The company has not reported any revenue.
What was acquired, and at what cost
The short version: USA Rare Earth paid $2.8 billion to acquire Serra Verde, a Brazil-based mining company. Most of that price was covered by issuing new shares of USA Rare Earth stock rather than cash. Paying in stock rather than cash dilutes existing shareholders, giving them a smaller ownership percentage of a larger share count.
Serra Verde produces four rare-earth minerals: dysprosium, neodymium, praseodymium, and terbium. These metallic elements go into defense systems, electric vehicle motors, consumer electronics, and alternative energy hardware. What makes Serra Verde notable is geography. The source describes it as the only scaled producer of those four minerals in the Western Hemisphere. USA Rare Earth is also developing a separate mining project in Texas.
What the U.S. government has actually signed
Washington has made a direct investment in USA Rare Earth and signed a financing and purchasing agreement tied to the Serra Verde acquisition. Both steps are part of a wider federal push to cut American reliance on Chinese suppliers for minerals that feed defense and technology supply chains.
USA Rare Earth is one of several companies competing for that position, the source makes clear, not the only one pursuing it.
In plain terms, what this actually says: the company has real assets, geographic significance, and documented government backing. It has zero revenue and a share price that peaked before it was a publicly traded company. The source frames the stock as appropriate only for investors who can absorb significant risk. USAR trades today at $17.66.