Cleveland-Cliffs Inc.’s CLF second-quarter 2023 adjusted earnings were 69 cents per share, down from $1.31 in the prior-year quarter. The bottom line matched the Zacks Consensus Estimate.
Revenues fell 5.6% to $5,984 million in the quarter. The top line, however, beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $5,727 million.
Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. Price, Consensus and EPS Surprise
Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. price-consensus-eps-surprise-chart | Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. Quote
Operational Highlights
The company reported Steelmaking revenues of $5.8 billion in the second quarter, down around 6% year over year.
Average net selling price per net ton of steel products was $1,255 in the quarter, down around 15.6% year over year. It was ahead of our estimate of $1,248. External sales volumes for steel products were roughly 4.2 million net tons, up around 15.4% year over year. It beat our estimate of 4.085 million net tons.
Financial Position
Cleveland-Cliffs ended the second quarter with cash and cash equivalents of $34 million, down around 27.6% year over year. Long-term debt declined 15.5% to $3,963 million.
Net cash provided in operating activities was $887 million in second-quarter 2023.
Cleveland-Cliffs repurchased 6.5 million shares during the second quarter. It recorded free cash flow of $756 million.
Outlook
The company currently estimates an additional $40 per net ton saving on steel unit costs from the second to the third quarter, with an additional $10 per ton reduction from the third to the fourth quarter of 2023.
Price Performance
Shares of CLF are up 1% over the past year compared with an 11.8% rise of its industry.
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
Zacks Rank & Key Picks
Cleveland-Cliffs currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).
Better-ranked stocks worth considering in the basic materials space include PPG Industries Inc. PPG, ATI Inc. ATI and Carpenter Technology Corporation CRS.
PPG, currently carrying a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), has an expected earnings growth rate of 20.8% for the current fiscal year. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for PPG's earnings for the current fiscal year has been revised 1.6% upward in the past 60 days. It delivered an earnings surprise of 7.3% in the trailing four quarters, on average. The company has gained around 14.9% over a year. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.
ATI, currently carrying a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy), has a projected earnings growth rate of 13.1% for the current year. It earnings beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate in each of the last four quarters. It pulled off a trailing four-quarter earnings surprise of roughly 13%, on average. ATI shares are up around 93.4% in a year.
CRS, currently carrying a Zacks Rank #2, has a projected earnings growth rate of 198.11% for the current year. Its earnings beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate in each of the last four quarters. It delivered a trailing four-quarter earnings surprise of roughly 30.9%, on average. CRS shares are up around 95.3% in a year.
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