ArcelorMittal Likely Approaching The Bottom

It’s been a pretty brutal year for steel stocks, as even protectionist policies in the U.S. and EU haven’t done much to shore up weaker pricing and demand. I’ve been pretty negative on most of these stocks, though my basic thesis of “own good names like Steel Dynamics (STLD) and Nucor (NUE) if you have to own something” has played out, as those two companies have done less worse than ArcelorMittal (MT) thus far this year.

The flip side of owning better companies in tougher times is considering worse companies when conditions start to bottom out. Although I expect ArcelorMittal to report a pretty ugly third quarter, and I don’t think the fourth quarter will be all that much better, I think ArcelorMittal’s business may be bottoming out now. To that end, I believe this global steel giant could see double-digit EBITDA growth in 2019 and solid single-digit growth in 2020 and 2021, although the risk of recession in both North America and Europe is still a significant risk factor.

I don’t have enough confidence in ArcelorMittal to call this a must-buy, but I like the company’s asset sale plans (vague as they are), the ongoing emphasize on price and margin over volume, and the potential uplift from improvements at newly-acquired Ilva. At this point, I believe ArcelorMittal shares should trade closer to $20, and this is a name for more aggressive contrarians to consider.

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ArcelorMittal Likely Approaching The Bottom