Cleveland-Cliffs (NYSE:CLF) Shares Gap Down Following Weak Earnings

Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. (NYSE:CLF)’s stock price gapped down prior to trading on Tuesday following a weaker than expected earnings announcement. The stock had previously closed at $13.11, but opened at $12.21. Cleveland-Cliffs shares last traded at $11.74, with a volume of 5,711,130 shares traded.

The mining company reported ($0.33) earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.31) by ($0.02). Cleveland-Cliffs had a return on equity of 4.94% and a net margin of 0.21%. The firm had revenue of $4.57 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.72 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.54 earnings per share. Cleveland-Cliffs’s quarterly revenue was down 18.5% compared to the same quarter last year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

CLF has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on Cleveland-Cliffs from $15.00 to $13.50 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, September 18th. Seaport Res Ptn upgraded Cleveland-Cliffs from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 27th. Finally, Citigroup lowered their price objective on shares of Cleveland-Cliffs from $18.00 to $12.50 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, September 10th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, two have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $17.56.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Cleveland-Cliffs

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in CLF. Twelve Points Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Cleveland-Cliffs by 58.5% in the 3rd quarter. Twelve Points Wealth Management LLC now owns 133,717 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $1,708,000 after purchasing an additional 49,359 shares during the last quarter. Hodges Capital Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Cleveland-Cliffs by 5.0% in the second quarter. Hodges Capital Management Inc. now owns 2,199,634 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $33,852,000 after acquiring an additional 104,197 shares during the last quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale grew its position in Cleveland-Cliffs by 2.5% during the 1st quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 40,118 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $879,000 after acquiring an additional 984 shares during the last quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. increased its holdings in Cleveland-Cliffs by 82.2% during the 1st quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 392,842 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $8,932,000 after purchasing an additional 177,198 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Natixis bought a new position in Cleveland-Cliffs in the 1st quarter valued at $100,000. 67.68% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Cleveland-Cliffs Trading Down 8.8 %

The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $12.67 and a 200 day simple moving average of $14.65. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48, a current ratio of 1.87 and a quick ratio of 0.60. The company has a market cap of $5.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -12.18 and a beta of 1.97.

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.