United States Steel Corporation X logged a loss of $89 million or 39 cents for fourth-quarter 2024, compared with a loss of $80 million or 36 cents per share in the year-ago quarter.
Barring one-time items, the adjusted loss per share was 13 cents, compared with earnings of 67 cents a year ago. The figure was narrower than the Zacks Consensus Estimate of a loss of 25 cents.
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Revenues fell around 15% year over year to $3,509 million in the reported quarter but beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $3,476.4 million.
The company reported total steel shipments of 3,296,000 tons for the reported quarter, down around 13% year over year. It was below our estimate of 3,341,000 tons. X saw sequentially lower pricing and demand environment across all its segments in the reported quarter.
United States Steel Corporation Price, Consensus and EPS Surprise
United States Steel Corporation price-consensus-eps-surprise-chart | United States Steel Corporation Quote
X’s Segment Highlights
Flat-Rolled: The segment recorded a profit of $222 million in the reported quarter, up from $128 million a year ago. Steel shipments in the segment fell roughly 9% year over year to 1,846,000 tons. Average realized price per ton in the unit was $956, down around 2% year over year. It surpassed our estimate of $925.
Mini Mill: The segment recorded a loss of $8 million in the quarter against a profit of $74 million in the year-ago quarter. Shipments were 575,000 tons, down around 7%. Average realized price per ton was $789, down around 2% year over year. It was ahead of our estimate of $779.
U.S. Steel Europe: The segment posted a loss of $35 million against a profit of $3 million in the year-ago quarter. Shipments in the segment fell around 28% to 732,000 tons. Average realized price per ton for the unit was $751, down around 2% year over year. It was below our estimate of $776.
Tubular: The segment posted a profit of $15 million in the reported quarter against a profit of $126 million a year ago. Shipments rose roughly 8% to 143,000 tons. Average realized price per ton for the unit was $1,539, down roughly 36% year over year. It lagged our estimate of $1,724.
U.S. Steel's Financials
At the end of 2024, the company's cash and cash equivalents were $1,367 million, down around 54% from the prior-year quarter. Long-term debt was $4,078 million, flat year over year.
X’s Outlook
U.S. Steel predicts first-quarter 2025 adjusted EBITDA in the band of $100-$150 million. Flat-Rolled segment results are projected to decline, mainly driven by logistics constraints in the mining sector. X expects an improvement in Mini Mill segment results on higher shipments from the BR2 mill. In Europe, the company expects results to modestly improve amid continued pressures from challenging pricing and demand conditions. For the Tubular segment, results are expected to be largely consistent with the fourth quarter.
X Stock’s Price Performance
The company’s shares have lost 22% in the past year against the Zacks Steel Producers industry’s 24.5% decline.
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X’s Zacks Rank & Other Key Picks
X currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).
Better-ranked stocks in the Basic Materials space are Ingevity Corporation NGVT, Sylvamo Corporation SLVM and Nutrien Ltd. NTR. While NGVT and SLVM carry a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), NTR carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.
Ingevity is scheduled to release fourth-quarter results on Feb. 18. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for NGVT’s fourth-quarter earnings is pegged at 12 cents. NGVT surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate in three of the trailing four quarters while missing once. It has a trailing four-quarter earnings surprise of 95.4%, on average.
Sylvamo is slated to release fourth-quarter results on Feb. 12. The consensus estimate for SLVM’s fourth-quarter earnings is pegged at $1.84. It surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate for earnings in each of the last four quarters at an average of 16.7%.
Nutrien is scheduled to release fourth-quarter results on Feb. 19. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for NTR’s fourth-quarter earnings is pegged at 33 cents. NTR has gained around 5% in the past year.
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