ArcelorMittal Shares Soar After 4Q Results, More Upbeat Outlook

By Kim Richters

Shares in ArcelorMittal Ltd. (MT.AE) rose sharply Thursday after the steelmaker reported that fourth-quarter earnings beat expectations and provided a more upbeat outlook.

The Luxembourg-based company's earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization in the quarter was $925 million, down from $1.95 billion in the year-earlier period.

However, the company's earnings beat analysts' expectations, which had forecast quarterly Ebitda at $865 million, according to FactSet. A company-compiled consensus forecasted Ebitda of $858 million for the period.

Analysts at Citi said ArcelorMittal had published "strong results", with an Ebitda that was 3% above their own forecasts.

At 0930 GMT, Amsterdam shares in ArcelorMittal traded 9.30% higher at EUR15.66.

Commenting on the outlook for this year, the company said there are "signs that the real demand slowdown is beginnning to stabilise" and expects "apparent steel consumption in our core markets to grow in 2020."

The company's more optimistic outlook contrasts "a year of destocking in 2019," analysts at Jefferies said.

The company also reported a quarterly net loss of $1.88 billion, sales of $15.51 billion and net debt of $9.35 billion as of the end of 2019, which is the company's lowest ever level, it said.

Write to Kim Richters at [e-mail]

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

February 06, 2020 04:46 ET (09:46 GMT)

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