Cleveland-Cliffs (CLF) Q2 Earnings: How Key Metrics Compare to Wall Street Estimates

While investors closely watch year-over-year changes in headline numbers -- revenue and earnings -- and how they compare to Wall Street expectations to determine their next course of action, some key metrics always provide a better insight into a company's underlying performance.

Since these metrics play a crucial role in driving the top- and bottom-line numbers, comparing them with the year-ago numbers and what analysts estimated about them helps investors better project a stock's price performance.

Here is how Cleveland-Cliffs performed in the just reported quarter in terms of the metrics most widely monitored and projected by Wall Street analysts:

• External Sales Volumes - Total steel Products: 4,025.00 KTon versus 4,105.28 KTon estimated by three analysts on average.
• Average net selling price per net ton of steel products: $1,124.00 versus the three-analyst average estimate of $1,109.49.
• Steel shipments by product - Coated steel: 1,240.00 KTon compared to the 1,269.08 KTon average estimate based on two analysts.
• Steel shipments by product - Plate: 172.00 KTon versus the two-analyst average estimate of 203.05 KTon.
• Revenues- Other Businesses: $174 million versus $170.67 million estimated by three analysts on average. Compared to the year-ago quarter, this number represents a +6.8% change.
• Revenues- Steelmaking: $5.05 billion compared to the $4.99 billion average estimate based on three analysts. The reported number represents a change of +5.9% year over year.
• Revenues- Steelmaking- Stainless and electrical steel: $525 million versus the two-analyst average estimate of $424.94 million. The reported number represents a year-over-year change of +21%.
• Revenues- Steelmaking- Plate steel: $253 million versus the two-analyst average estimate of $282.19 million. The reported number represents a year-over-year change of -8%.
• Revenues- Steelmaking- Other: $527 million versus the two-analyst average estimate of $418 million. The reported number represents a year-over-year change of +26.4%.
• Revenues- Steelmaking- Cold-rolled steel: $660 million versus the two-analyst average estimate of $708.3 million. The reported number represents a year-over-year change of +2.3%.
• Revenues- Steelmaking- Hot-rolled steel: $1.54 billion versus $1.53 billion estimated by two analysts on average. Compared to the year-ago quarter, this number represents a +15.5% change.
• Revenues- Steelmaking- Coated steel: $1.53 billion compared to the $1.55 billion average estimate based on two analysts. The reported number represents a change of +10.1% year over year.

View all Key Company Metrics for Cleveland-Cliffs here>>>

Shares of Cleveland-Cliffs have returned -10.6% over the past month versus the Zacks S&P 500 composite's +0.4% change. The stock currently has a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy), indicating that it could outperform the broader market in the near term.

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