Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. Common Stock (CLF)

FairStock Score: 56/100 — STEADY

Key Financials

AI Analysis

AI-generated, general educational analysis — not personal investment advice.

I look at Cleveland-Cliffs as a cyclical steel producer, not a franchise. It sells hot-rolled, cold-rolled, coated, stainless, plate and slab steel from the U.S. and Canada, but steel is largely a commodity. The filed numbers show the cycle clearly: in fiscal 2023, ended 2023-12-31, it earned $385.0 million of net income, or $0.75 per diluted share; in fiscal 2024, ended 2024-12-31, it lost $760.0 million, or $1.58 per diluted share; and in fiscal 2025, ended 2025-12-31, it lost $1.5 billion, or $2.91 per diluted share. Revenue fell from $22.0 billion in fiscal 2023 to $19.2 billion in fiscal 2024 and $18.6 billion in fiscal 2025. The latest quarters are less bad: in fiscal Q2 2026, the quarter ended 2026-06-30, revenue was $5.2 billion and net loss was $145.0 million, versus revenue of $4.9 billion and net loss of $486.0 million in fiscal Q2 2025. That is progress, but still a loss. Financial health is a concern. At the 2026-10-13 close, FairStock calculations show a negative P/E of -8.19, P/B of 1.31, ROE of -13.86%, ROCE of -1.71%, debt-to-equity of 1.33, trailing free cash flow of -$857.0 million, FCF yield of -11.7%, EV/EBITDA of 30.99, and Altman Z-Score of 0.69. A Piotroski F-Score of 6/9 is not awful, but the cash burn and leverage are not Graham-comfortable. FairStock's Lynch category is TURNAROUND - loss in latest year after earlier profits. A turnaround can work if steel demand and prices recover, but I would demand a margin of safety. At $12.86, with a $7.3 billion market cap and P/B of 1.31, the price is not a giveaway. Beta 2.11 signals high volatility. I see no durable moat in commodity steel, so this is a speculative cyclical recovery, not a compounding bargain.

In plain English: Cleveland-Cliffs makes steel in the U.S. and Canada. The business looks weak right now: it lost money in fiscal 2025 and is still losing money in fiscal 2026, though the most recent quarter was less bad than a year earlier. At the 2026-10-13 close of $12.86, the shares do not look clearly cheap or expensive against its numbers, because profits are negative but the stock trades above the value of its net assets.

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Data as of 2026-10-13 close · note generated 2026-10-15 · model deepseek-flash

Sources (SEC EDGAR): fiscal Q2 2026 10-Q (period ended 2026-06-30) · fiscal Q1 2026 10-Q (period ended 2026-03-31) · fiscal Q3 2025 10-Q (period ended 2025-09-30) · fiscal Q2 2025 10-Q (period ended 2025-06-30) · FY2025 10-K (period ended 2025-12-31) · FY2024 10-K (period ended 2024-12-31) · FY2023 10-K (period ended 2023-12-31)

Fundamentals from company filings and market-data providers; prices are end-of-day, not real-time. AI-generated analysis is general and educational — not personal investment advice. Scoring methodology · Score test · Disclaimer