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Cleveland-Cliffs Q1 Earnings and Revenues Outpace Estimates

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Key Takeaways

  • CLF reported a narrower Q1 adjusted loss of 40 cents, beating estimates and improving year over year.
  • CLF posted revenues of $4.92B, topping estimates, with higher steel prices and modest volume decline.
  • Cleveland-Cliffs reaffirmed 2026 outlook, maintaining shipment, capex, and expense projections.

Cleveland-Cliffs Inc.’s (CLF - Free Report) first-quarter 2026 adjusted loss was 40 cents per share, narrower than the Zacks Consensus Estimate of a loss of 44 cents. It reported an adjusted loss of 93 cents per share in the prior-year quarter.

Revenues increased 6.3% year over year to $4,922 million. The top line beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $4,834.5 million.

Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. Price, Consensus and EPS Surprise

CLF’s Operational Highlights

The company reported Steelmaking revenues of roughly $4.8 billion, up around 6.5% year over year.

The average net selling price per net ton of steel products was $1,048 in the quarter, up around 6.9% year over year. The metric was below the consensus estimate of $1,056. 

External sales volumes for steel products were roughly 4.1 million net tons, down around 0.7% year over year. The figure surpassed the consensus estimate of 4.06 million net tons.

Financial Position of CLF

Cleveland-Cliffs ended the first quarter with cash and cash equivalents of $45 million, down around 21% from the prior quarter. Long-term debt increased 7% sequentially to $7,763 million.

As of March 31, 2026, the company had $3.1 billion in total liquidity.

CLF’s Outlook

The company reaffirmed its full-year 2026 outlook, maintaining expectations for steel shipment volumes of roughly 16.5-17 million net tons. It continues to project capital expenditures of about $700 million and selling, general, and administrative (SG&A) expenses of approximately $575 million. Depreciation, depletion, and amortization are expected to total around $1.1 billion, while cash pension and OPEB payments and contributions are anticipated to remain near $125 million. 

Price Performance of CLF

Shares of CLF have gained 26.1% over the past year compared with an 81.4% rise in its industry

Zacks Investment ResearchImage Source: Zacks Investment Research

CLF’s Zacks Rank & Key Picks

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

Some better-ranked stocks worth a look in the basic materials space are Galiano Gold Inc. (GAU - Free Report) , Materion Corporation (MTRN - Free Report) , and Nexa Resources S.A. (NEXA - Free Report) .

Galiano is slated to report quarterly results on May 13. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for earnings is pegged at 17 cents per share. GAU has a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy) at present. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

Materion is expected to report first-quarter results on April 29. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for MTRN’s first-quarter earnings is pegged at $1.24 per share. MTRN currently carries a Zacks Rank #2.

NEXA is scheduled to report first-quarter results on May 6. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for NEXA’s first-quarter earnings is pegged at 61 cents per share. NEXA currently carries a Zacks Rank #2.

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