United States Steel Whiffs on Earnings

Seth Jayson, The Motley Fool
Updated

United States Steel (NYS: X) reported earnings on Jan. 31. Here are the numbers you need to know.

The 10-second takeaway
For the quarter ended Dec. 31 (Q4), United States Steel beat slightly on revenues and whiffed on earnings per share.

Compared to the prior-year quarter, revenue increased, and GAAP loss per share improved.

Gross margins contracted, operating margins shrank, and net margins increased.

Revenue details
United States Steel logged revenue of $4.82 billion. The 12 analysts polled by S&P Capital IQ hoped for revenue of $4.73 billion. Sales were 12% higher than the prior-year quarter's $4.30 billion.

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Source: S&P Capital IQ. Quarterly periods. Dollar amounts in millions.

EPS details
Non-GAAP EPS came in at -$1.14. The 18 earnings estimates compiled by S&P Capital IQ anticipated -$0.84 per share on the same basis. GAAP EPS were -$1.57 for Q4 compared to -$1.74 per share for the prior-year quarter.

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Source: S&P Capital IQ. Quarterly periods. Figures may be non-GAAP to maintain comparability with estimates.

Margin details
For the quarter, gross margin was 3.2%, 110 basis points worse than the prior-year quarter. Operating margin was -4.0%, 80 basis points worse than the prior-year quarter. Net margin was -4.7%, 110 basis points better than the prior-year quarter.

Looking ahead
Next quarter's average estimate for revenue is $5.06 billion. On the bottom line, the average EPS estimate is $0.35.

Next year's average estimate for revenue is $20.28 billion. The average EPS estimate is $2.51.

Investor sentiment
The stock has a four-star rating (out of five) at Motley Fool CAPS, with 1,974 members out of 2,123 rating the stock outperform, and 149 members rating it underperform. Among 543 CAPS All-Star picks (recommendations by the highest-ranked CAPS members), 516 give United States Steel a green thumbs-up, and 27 give it a red thumbs-down.

Of Wall Street recommendations tracked by S&P Capital IQ, the average opinion on United States Steel is hold, with an average price target of $33.13.

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At the time thisarticle was published Seth Jayson had no position in any company mentioned here at the time of publication. You can view his stock holdings here. He is co-advisor ofMotley Fool Hidden Gems, which provides new small-cap ideas every month, backed by a real-money portfolio. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services free for 30 days. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

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