You'd be hard-pressed to find a steel stock that has done worse since my last favorable write-up on ArcelorMittal (NYSE:MT). The shares are down about 13% since then, about as much as Latin American steel companies Ternium (NYSE:TX) and Gerdau (NYSE:GGB), but worse than Nucor (NYSE:NUE) and much, much worse than Steel Dynamics (NASDAQ:STLD), AK Steel (NYSE:AKS), and U.S. Steel (NYSE:X).
That
ArcelorMittal is underperforming AK Steel and U.S. Steel isn't shocking
to me; less efficient players like U.S. Steel and AK Steel do better in
recovering markets and both of those companies are more highly
leveraged to the U.S. market (one of the stronger steel markets today).
Some of the other relative performances are a little harder to explain;
tempting as it may be to blame ArcelorMittal's woes on weak iron ore,
even Vale (NYSE:VALE) and Fortescue (OTCQX:FSUGY)
(both iron miners) have outperformed ArcelorMittal over the past
three-plus months. With all of that said, I'm still bullish on
ArcelorMittal as a play on better steel prices, production
rationalizations, and a global construction recovery.
Read the full article here:
ArcelorMittal Down, But Not Out
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