Cleveland-Cliffs Stock Falls On Q1 Earnings Miss, Steelmaker Idles 6 Facilities: 'Taking Decisive Action To Streamline Our Operations'

Cleveland-Cliffs Inc CLF reported first-quarter financial results after the market close on Wednesday. Here’s a look at the key details from the steel producer’s report.

Q1 Earnings: Cleveland-Cliffs reported first-quarter revenue of $4.63 billion, missing analyst estimates of $4.64 billion, according to Benzinga Pro. The steelmaker reported a first-quarter adjusted loss of 92 cents per share, missing analyst estimates for a loss of 75 cents per share.

Between March and May, the company decided to fully or partially idle six facilities to optimize its footprint, reposition away from loss-making operations and release excess working capital. These actions are expected to result in savings of over $300 million annually.

“The decision to fully or partially idle certain locations was not taken lightly,” the company said.

Total steelmaking revenues included $1.4 billion to the infrastructure and manufacturing market, $1.3 billion to the automotive market, $1.2 billion to the distributors and converters market and $588 million to steel producers.

Steel product sales volumes totaled 4.1 million net tons in the first quarter, consisting of 41% hot-rolled, 27% coated, 15% cold-rolled, 5% plate, 3% stainless and electrical and 9% other.

Cleveland-Cliffs ended the quarter with $3 billion in total liquidity.

“Our first-quarter results were negatively impacted by underperforming non-core assets and the lagging effect of lower index prices in late 2024 and early 2025,” said Lourenco Goncalves, chairman, president and CEO of Cleveland-Cliffs.

“As a result, we are taking decisive action to streamline our operations and enhance efficiency. This will drive meaningful fixed cost savings and sharpen our focus on our core strength: supplying steel to the automotive industry.”

Outlook: Cleveland-Cliffs expects full-year 2025 steel unit cost reductions of approximately $50 per net ton compared to the prior year. The company anticipates full-year capital expenditures of approximately $625 million, down from prior guidance of $700 million.

Cleveland-Cliffs executives will hold a conference call at 8:30 a.m. Thursday morning to further discuss the quarter with investors and analysts.

CLF Price Action: Cleveland-Cliffs shares were down 9.19% after-hours, trading at $7.71 at the time of publication Wednesday, per Benzinga Pro.

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