Will Antsy US Steel Investors Be Appeased With By Earnings Beat?

Shares of United States Steel Corporation (NYSE:X) gained more than 13 percent Wednesday morning after the company surprised many investors with an earnings beat and just a small reduction to its 2017 guidance. But the stock is still lower by nearly 15 percent since the start of 2017, which begs the question: Will antsy investors be appeased with Tuesday's earnings beat?

Jefferies' Seth Rosenfeld maintains a Buy rating on U.S. Steel's stock with an unchanged $33 price target in reaction to the solid earnings report, which showed an absence of operational issues. As such, the earnings report could reassure investor concerns, which were justified after the first quarter.

A stronger than expected flat-rolled income contributed to the earnings beat and other sectors realized a "minor" miss, the analyst wrote. Within the flat-rolled segment, volume gains of 4.5 percent were better than expected and marginally offset by lower average selling prices of 1.2 percent. Of particular note, revenue from the "Other" segment of $439 million was 44 percent better than expected and helped the company achieve an operating profit of $63 per tonne, which was $19 per tonne above expectations.

The company's 2017 EBITDA guidance reduction from $1.1 billion to $1.075 billion represents a "marginal trim" and was much better than other analysts had expected. But the EBITDA guidance also implies a fourth-quarter EBITDA of $297 million, which is below the $376 million expected and will weigh on free cash flow generation.

At publication, shares of U.S. Steel were up 11.02 percent at $28.11.

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