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Iron-ore Miners Turned Attractive: United States Steel Corporation (X), Cliffs Natural Resources Inc (CLF), ArcelorMittal (MT), AK Steel Holding Corporation (AKS), Steel Dynamics (STLD)

by Brett Flynn / January 28, 2015

Shares of iron-ore miners were rising early Wednesday after United States Steel Corporation (NYSE:X) reported fourth-quarter earnings well above Wall Street estimates as its ongoing “Carnegie Way” efficiency efforts helped results.

For 2015, the company projects a decline in earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization.
The company said Monday that it would temporarily curtail operations at two plants in Alabama and one in Texas, potentially affecting 1,918 workers, as the collapse of oil prices continues to punish key segments of American industry.

For the quarter, U.S. Steel earned $275 million, or $1.83 a share, compared with $297 million, or $1.93 a share, a year earlier. Earnings excluding items were $1.82 a share. Net sales fell to $4.07 billion from $4.27 billion.

Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters had projected earnings of 87 cents a share on sales of $3.965 billion.
The company previously said maintenance and repair costs would affect its flat-rolled segment during the fourth quarter.

“We are pleased to report another quarter of strong operating results, which continue to reflect the significant and sustainable improvement in our earnings power from our Carnegie Way transformation efforts,” the company said.

Since taking over in 2013, U.S. Steel Chief Executive Mario Longhi has aggressively cut costs and restructured operations. His turnaround plan generated $575 million in benefits in 2014, the company said.
Full-year adjusted Ebitda was $1.7 billion. For 2015, U.S. Steel projects $1.1 billion to $1.4 billion.
Cliffs Natural Resources Inc (NYSE:CLF), ArcelorMittal SA (ADR) (NYSE:MT), AK Steel Holding Corporation (NYSE:AKS) and Steel Dynamics, Inc. (NASDAQ:STLD) all were up, as of this writing.
STLD is set to release quarter results, after the closing bell on Wednesday.

AK Steel Holding Corp, the fourth-largest U.S. steelmaker by market capitalization, on Tuesday reported a better-than-expected quarterly profit, helped by strong demand from automakers.

CLF is scrapping its dividend as the struggling iron ore miner works to pay down debt and refocus its operations amid tumbling commodity prices. Separately, Cliffs also said it has put its Bloom Lake mine into formal restructuring after the company failed to find equity partners for the money-losing Quebec-based mine in November, and its halted development.

Iron-ore prices tumbled to a 5½-year low on Tuesday as a sharp decline in steel prices and softening iron-ore demand from China, the world’s largest consumer, weigh on prices of the steelmaking material.

http://www.marketsemerging.com/iron...-corporation-aks-steel-dynamics-stld/1718443/