Cleveland-Cliffs Q1 Earnings and Revenues Outpace Estimates
Cleveland-Cliffs Inc.’s CLF first-quarter 2026 adjusted loss was 40 cents per share, narrower than the Zacks Consensus Estimate of a loss of 44 cents. It reported an adjusted loss of 93 cents per share in the prior-year quarter.
Revenues increased 6.3% year over year to $4,922 million. The top line beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $4,834.5 million.
Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. Price, Consensus and EPS Surprise
CLF’s Operational Highlights
The company reported Steelmaking revenues of roughly $4.8 billion, up around 6.5% year over year.
The average net selling price per net ton of steel products was $1,048 in the quarter, up around 6.9% year over year. The metric was below the consensus estimate of $1,056.
External sales volumes for steel products were roughly 4.1 million net tons, down around 0.7% year over year. The figure surpassed the consensus estimate of 4.06 million net tons.
Financial Position of CLF
Cleveland-Cliffs ended the first quarter with cash and cash equivalents of $45 million, down around 21% from the prior quarter. Long-term debt increased 7% sequentially to $7,763 million.
As of March 31, 2026, the company had $3.1 billion in total liquidity.
CLF’s Outlook
The company reaffirmed its full-year 2026 outlook, maintaining expectations for steel shipment volumes of roughly 16.5-17 million net tons. It continues to project capital expenditures of about $700 million and selling, general, and administrative (SG&A) expenses of approximately $575 million. Depreciation, depletion, and amortization are expected to total around $1.1 billion, while cash pension and OPEB payments and contributions are anticipated to remain near $125 million.
Price Performance of CLF
Shares of CLF have gained 26.1% over the past year compared with an 81.4% rise in its industry.
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
CLF’s Zacks Rank & Key Picks
CLF currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).
Some better-ranked stocks worth a look in the basic materials space are Galiano Gold Inc. GAU, Materion Corporation MTRN, and Nexa Resources S.A. NEXA.
Galiano is slated to report quarterly results on May 13. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for earnings is pegged at 17 cents per share. GAU has a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy) at present. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.
Materion is expected to report first-quarter results on April 29. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for MTRN’s first-quarter earnings is pegged at $1.24 per share. MTRN currently carries a Zacks Rank #2.
NEXA is scheduled to report first-quarter results on May 6. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for NEXA’s first-quarter earnings is pegged at 61 cents per share. NEXA currently carries a Zacks Rank #2.
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