| Cliffs Natural Resources: What Are Analysts Expecting? | |
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Cliffs Natural Resources 3Q15 Earnings: Key Investor Takeaways (Continued from Prior Part) Consensus rating for Cliffs
Approximately 7% of analysts tracking Cliffs Natural Resources (CLF) rate it a “buy” or some equivalent. Approximately 53% rate the company a “hold” or an equivalent, while 40% rate it a “sell.” The consensus target price is $2.98, compared to the current market price of $2.76, which implies a potential upside of 8%.
Cliffs forms 0.05% of the Vanguard Materials ETF (VAW).
BHP Billiton (BHP) (BBL) has no “sell” rating, Rio Tinto (RIO) has 29% of analysts recommending a ”buy,” and 20% of analysts recommended a “buy” for Vale SA (VALE).
Analysts’ ratings
In a note released on September 24, Macquarie Research reaffirmed its “buy” rating but reduced the target price from $7 to $6 per share for Cliffs due to changes in its iron ore price forecasts. FBR & Co. began coverage on Cliffs on September 18 with a “market perform” rating and reduced its target price from $3.50 to $3 on November 2, 2015. Deutsche Bank also reduced its target price from $4.60 to $3 with a “hold” rating on October 5. Many brokers, including BOFA Merrill Lynch, Nomura Securities, and Citi, have also reduced their target prices for Cliffs since its 3Q15 results. Most of the downside is likely due to the volume downgrade by Cliffs’ management.
Analysts’ estimates
Analysts are projecting sales of $2.28 billion for the next four quarters and EBITDA (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, and amortization) of $244.2 million. This implies an EBITDA margin of 10.7%. The actual numbers for the trailing four quarters are sales of $2.82 billion and EBITDA of $465.3 million, implying a margin of 16.5%. Declining sales and EBITDA are likely due to lower volume guidance from Cliffs and also negative sentiment in the US domestic steel market. While Cliffs’ management believes that the situation should improve going into 2016, the market is conservative.
You can find out more about the iron ore industry at Market Realist’s Iron Ore page.
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CLIFFS Natural Resources
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PRODUCER |
CODE : CLF |
ISIN : US18683K1016 |
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ProfileMarket IndicatorsVALUE : Projects & res.Press releasesAnnual reportRISK : Asset profileContact Cpy |
CLIFFS Natural Res is a iron producing company based in United states of america. CLIFFS Natural Res produces iron, coal in Australia, in Brazil and in Canada, and holds various exploration projects in Canada. Its main assets in production are WABUSH MINE, EMPIRE AND TILDEN MINES, HIBBING TACONITE, NORTHSHORE MINE, UNITED TACONITE, OAK GROVE MINE, GREEN RIDGE MINE and PINNACLE MINE in Canada, AUSTRALIAN IRON ORE and SONOMA in Australia and AMAPA in Brazil and its main exploration properties are MT JACKSON J1 in Australia and DIAGNOS, WAWA, FREEWEST, MC FAULD'S LAKE, MACFADYEN, WAWA CLAIMS and BIG DADDY in Canada. CLIFFS Natural Res is listed in France, in Germany and in United States of America. Its market capitalisation is US$ 3.8 billions as of today (€ 3.5 billions). Its stock quote reached its highest recent level on May 16, 2008 at US$ 99.17, and its lowest recent point on January 15, 2016 at US$ 1.20. CLIFFS Natural Res has 297 400 968 shares outstanding. |