Earnings Preview For Cliffs Natural Resources

On Friday, Cliffs Natural Resources CLF will report its last quarter's earnings. Here is Benzinga's take on the company's latest release.

Earnings and Revenue

Cliffs Natural Resources EPS is expected to be around 53 cents, according to sell-side analysts. Sales will likely be near $651.8 million.

In the same quarter last year, Cliffs Natural Resources reported EPS of 26 cents on revenue of $569.3 million. If the company were to match the consensus estimate when it reports Friday, earnings would be up 103.85 percent. Sales would be up 14.49 percent on a year-over-year basis. Here's how the company's reported EPS has stacked up against analyst estimates in the past:

Stock Performance

Over the last 52-week period, shares are up 18.51 percent. Given that these returns are generally positive, long-term shareholders should be content going into this earnings release. Analysts have adjusted their estimates higher for EPS and revenues over the past 90 days. Analysts seem to have settled on a Sell rating with Cliffs Natural Resources. The strength of this rating has maintained conviction over the past three months.

Conference Call

Cliffs Natural Resources is scheduled to hold a conference call at 10:00 a.m. ET and it can be accessed here.