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United States Steel (X) Outpaces Stock Market Gains: What You Should Know

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United States Steel (X - Free Report) closed at $36.87 in the latest trading session, marking a +1.77% move from the prior day. This change outpaced the S&P 500's 1.12% gain on the day. Elsewhere, the Dow gained 1.01%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq lost 0.08%.

Coming into today, shares of the steel maker had gained 13.04% in the past month. In that same time, the Basic Materials sector gained 5.02%, while the S&P 500 gained 4.63%.

Wall Street will be looking for positivity from United States Steel as it approaches its next earnings report date. In that report, analysts expect United States Steel to post earnings of $3.40 per share. This would mark year-over-year growth of 214.81%. Meanwhile, our latest consensus estimate is calling for revenue of $5.38 billion, up 46.89% from the prior-year quarter.

Looking at the full year, our Zacks Consensus Estimates suggest analysts are expecting earnings of $9.51 per share and revenue of $20.2 billion. These totals would mark changes of -29.45% and -0.35%, respectively, from last year.

It is also important to note the recent changes to analyst estimates for United States Steel. These revisions typically reflect the latest short-term business trends, which can change frequently. As such, positive estimate revisions reflect analyst optimism about the company's business and profitability.

Our research shows that these estimate changes are directly correlated with near-term stock prices. We developed the Zacks Rank to capitalize on this phenomenon. Our system takes these estimate changes into account and delivers a clear, actionable rating model.

The Zacks Rank system ranges from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell). It has a remarkable, outside-audited track record of success, with #1 stocks delivering an average annual return of +25% since 1988. Within the past 30 days, our consensus EPS projection has moved 4.72% lower. United States Steel is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold).

Valuation is also important, so investors should note that United States Steel has a Forward P/E ratio of 3.81 right now. Its industry sports an average Forward P/E of 4.04, so we one might conclude that United States Steel is trading at a discount comparatively.

The Steel - Producers industry is part of the Basic Materials sector. This group has a Zacks Industry Rank of 22, putting it in the top 9% of all 250+ industries.

The Zacks Industry Rank gauges the strength of our individual industry groups by measuring the average Zacks Rank of the individual stocks within the groups. Our research shows that the top 50% rated industries outperform the bottom half by a factor of 2 to 1.

You can find more information on all of these metrics, and much more, on Zacks.com.


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