Cleveland-Cliffs (NYSE:CLF) Shares Gap Down After Earnings Miss

Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. (NYSE:CLF)’s stock price gapped down prior to trading on Tuesday after the company announced weaker than expected quarterly earnings. 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 trading hands.

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on CLF shares. Citigroup lowered their price objective on Cleveland-Cliffs from $18.00 to $12.50 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, September 10th. Morgan Stanley decreased their price target on shares of 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. Finally, Seaport Res Ptn raised shares of Cleveland-Cliffs from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 27th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, two have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $17.56.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Cleveland-Cliffs

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in Cleveland-Cliffs by 54.7% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 15,906,597 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $244,794,000 after purchasing an additional 5,621,797 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Cleveland-Cliffs by 49.9% during the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 6,093,632 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $93,172,000 after buying an additional 2,027,757 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its stake in Cleveland-Cliffs by 23.6% during the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 5,597,662 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $86,148,000 after acquiring an additional 1,069,907 shares during the period. Castle Hook Partners LP lifted its holdings in Cleveland-Cliffs by 13.8% in the first quarter. Castle Hook Partners LP now owns 3,374,716 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $76,741,000 after acquiring an additional 410,182 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Drexel Morgan & Co. boosted its stake in Cleveland-Cliffs by 3.8% in the third quarter. Drexel Morgan & Co. now owns 3,200,395 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $40,869,000 after acquiring an additional 116,400 shares during the period. 67.68% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Cleveland-Cliffs Price Performance

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 fifty day moving average price of $12.63 and a 200 day moving average price of $14.58. The company has a market capitalization of $6.52 billion, a P/E ratio of -14.37 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.