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Shares of Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. (CLF) tumbled in mid-day trade on Monday, falling by nearly 5% as the company’s preliminary fourth-quarter results disappointed investors.
Cleveland-Cliffs posted preliminary fourth-quarter revenue of $4.3 billion, below analyst consensus of $4.45 billion, according to Stocktwits data.
“Other than the COVID-impacted 2020, 2024 was the worst year for domestic steel demand since 2010,” said Cleveland-Cliffs CEO Lourenco Goncalves.
He added that the company’s sales were “especially impacted” due to muted demand from the automotive industry during the second half of fiscal year 2024.
For the full year 2024, Cleveland-Cliffs posted preliminary revenue of $19.2 billion, below Wall Street expectations of $19.3 billion, according to Stocktwits data.
The Ohio-based steelmaker expects to ship 15.6 million net tons during the year, down from 2023’s 16.4 million net tons shipment.
However, Goncalves hit an optimistic note for 2025.
“So far into this new year, we have already seen improvements in our order book, both automotive and non-automotive, and are confident that the manufacturing-friendly items on President Trump’s agenda will have an outsized benefit on Cleveland-Cliffs,” he said.
Analysts at Morgan Stanley cut their price target for Cleveland-Cliffs stock to $11 from $13, but noted that they expect steel prices to improve in 2025, according to TheFly.
Retail sentiment on Stocktwits remained sour, hovering in the ‘extremely bearish’ (23/100) territory, while message volume remained at ‘normal’ levels.
One user sounded a very pessimistic note about the company’s prospects.
Cleveland-Cliffs’ share price has been on a downward trend over the past few months, falling more than 26% over the past six months.
Its one-year performance has been worse, with the stock losing more than half its value in this period.
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