Cleveland-Cliffs (NYSE:CLF) Announces Quarterly Earnings Results

Cleveland-Cliffs (NYSE:CLF) announced its earnings results on Monday. The mining company reported $0.18 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.19 by ($0.01), Briefing.com reports. The company had revenue of $5.20 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.34 billion. Cleveland-Cliffs had a return on equity of 8.69% and a net margin of 1.78%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 1.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted ($0.11) earnings per share.

Cleveland-Cliffs Stock Performance

Shares of CLF stock opened at $18.15 on Thursday. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $20.97 and its 200 day simple moving average is $19.00. Cleveland-Cliffs has a one year low of $13.61 and a one year high of $22.97. The stock has a market capitalization of $8.63 billion, a PE ratio of 24.74, a PEG ratio of 0.64 and a beta of 2.03. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a current ratio of 1.90 and a quick ratio of 0.62.

Cleveland-Cliffs announced that its board has authorized a stock buyback program on Monday, April 22nd that permits the company to buyback $1.50 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the mining company to repurchase up to 17.2% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are usually an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Activity at Cleveland-Cliffs

In other Cleveland-Cliffs news, Director Ron A. Bloom purchased 25,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 1st. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $20.24 per share, with a total value of $506,000.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now owns 27,221 shares in the company, valued at $550,953.04. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other Cleveland-Cliffs news, Director Arlene M. Yocum acquired 2,000 shares of Cleveland-Cliffs stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 6th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $20.02 per share, for a total transaction of $40,040.00. Following the purchase, the director now directly owns 94,887 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,899,637.74. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Ron A. Bloom acquired 25,000 shares of Cleveland-Cliffs stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 1st. The stock was acquired at an average price of $20.24 per share, with a total value of $506,000.00. Following the purchase, the director now directly owns 27,221 shares in the company, valued at $550,953.04. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders have sold 221,066 shares of company stock worth $4,464,688 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 1.76% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on CLF shares. Citigroup cut shares of Cleveland-Cliffs from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $22.00 price target for the company. in a research note on Wednesday, March 13th. Wolfe Research reaffirmed an “underperform” rating and set a $18.00 price target on shares of Cleveland-Cliffs in a report on Tuesday, April 9th. TheStreet downgraded Cleveland-Cliffs from a “b-” rating to a “c” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 30th. Morgan Stanley reissued an “equal weight” rating and set a $20.00 target price on shares of Cleveland-Cliffs in a report on Tuesday, March 26th. Finally, Argus downgraded Cleveland-Cliffs from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 8th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Cleveland-Cliffs presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $20.75.

About Cleveland-Cliffs

Cleveland-Cliffs is the largest flat-rolled steel company and the largest iron ore pellet producer in North America. The company is vertically integrated from mining through iron making, steelmaking, rolling, finishing and downstream with hot and cold stamping of steel parts and components. The company was formerly known as Cliffs Natural Resources Inc and changed its name to Cleveland-Cliffs Inc in August 2017.