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ArcelorMittal's (MT) Q2 Earnings Beat Estimates, Sales Miss

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ArcelorMittal (MT - Free Report) recorded second-quarter 2023 profits of $1,860 million or $2.20 per share compared with $3,923 million or $4.24 in the year-ago quarter. The bottom line surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $1.81.

Total sales fell around 16% year over year to $18,606 million in the quarter. The figure missed the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $19,250.7 million. The decrease was primarily due to lower average steel selling prices and a fall in steel shipments.

Total steel shipments declined around 1.2% year over year to 14.2 million metric tons in the reported quarter. It was below our estimate of 15.24 million.

ArcelorMittal Price, Consensus and EPS Surprise

ArcelorMittal Price, Consensus and EPS Surprise

ArcelorMittal price-consensus-eps-surprise-chart | ArcelorMittal Quote

Segment Review

NAFTA: Sales decreased roughly 4.2% year over year to $3,498 million in the reported quarter. Crude steel production increased about 9.8% to 2,244 million metric tons. Steel shipments increased around 6.2% year over year to 2,604 million metric tons, lower than our estimate of 2,835 million metric tons. The average steel selling price decreased 15.3% to $1,116 per ton.

Brazil: Sales decreased around 4% year over year to $3,826 million. Crude steel production rose 21% to 3,732 million metric tons. Shipments increased 19.3% year over year to 3,583 million metric tons, higher than our estimate of 3,195 million metric tons. The average steel selling price fell 18.9% to $1,001 per ton.

Europe: Sales decreased around 21.8% year over year to $10,518 million. Crude steel production fell roughly 16% to 6,943 million metric tons in the reported quarter. Shipments declined around 8.7% to 7,274 million metric tons, lower than our estimate of 8,111 million metric tons. The average steel selling price went down roughly 15% year over year to $1,097 per ton.

Asia Africa and CIS (ACIS): Sales fell around 6.4% year over year to $1,389 million. Crude steel production totaled 1,768 million metric tons, up about 40.2%. Shipments increased 23% year over year to around 1,497 million metric tons, higher than our estimate of 1,298 million metric tons. Average selling prices decreased about 21.4% to $727 per ton.

Mining: Sales declined 32.3% year over year to $680 million. Iron ore production totaled 6.4 million metric tons, down around 12.3% from the year-ago quarter’s levels. Iron ore shipments were reduced 12% to 6.6 million metric tons.

Financials

At the end of the quarter, net cash provided by operating activities was $2,087 million compared with $2,554 million in the year-ago quarter. The company’s net debt was around $4.5 billion, down roughly 13% sequentially.

Outlook

The company expects global apparent steel (excluding China) consumption to rise 1-2% (compared with the earlier view of 2-3% growth) for 2023 on a year-over-year basis.

The company also expects real demand growth to be lackluster in the United States due to the lagged impact of interest rate rises. Apparent steel consumption in the United States for the year is now expected to decline -2.0-0.0% compared with the previous outlook of 1.5-3.5% growth.

ArcelorMittal also expects apparent demand in Europe to moderate to -0.5% to +1.5% in 2023 compared with the prior view of +0.5% to +2.5%.

Steel consumption is projected to stabilize in China in 2023 to -1.0% to +1.0%, with potential for upside based on government infrastructure stimulus and production discipline impacts.

Price Performance

Shares of ArcelorMittal have gained 15.9% in the past year compared with a 45.2% rise of the industry.

Zacks Investment Research
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research

Zacks Rank & Key Picks

ArcelorMittal currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).

Better-ranked stocks worth considering in the basic materials space include PPG Industries Inc. (PPG - Free Report) , ATI Inc. (ATI - Free Report) and Carpenter Technology Corporation (CRS - Free Report) .

PPG, currently carrying a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), has an expected earnings growth rate of 20.8% for the current fiscal year. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for PPG's earnings for the current fiscal year has been revised 1.6% upward in the past 60 days. It delivered an earnings surprise of 7.3% each of the trailing four quarters, on average. PPG has gained around 12.4% over a year. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

ATI, currently carrying a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy), has a projected earnings growth rate of 13.1% for the current year. Its earnings beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate in each of the last four quarters. It has a trailing four-quarter earnings surprise of roughly 13%, on average. ATI shares are up around 87.6% in a year.

CRS, currently carrying a Zacks Rank #1, has a projected earnings growth rate of 198.11% for the current year. Its earnings beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate in each of the last four quarters. It has a trailing four-quarter earnings surprise of roughly 30.9%, on average. CRS shares are up around 77.7% in a year.

 

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