Insider Trading Thur 6/13/24

Notable purchases -- Buffett adds to OXY; notable sales -- CPO active in RAMP

Buyers:

• BL co-Chief Executive Officer bought 7,552 shares at $45.92 - $46.31 worth approx. $348K.
• BOC Director bought 30,000 shares at $13.89 - $14.12 worth approx. $421K.
• CLF Chief Financial Officer and two (2) Directors bought 21,450 shares combined worth approx. $319K.
• DINO Director bought 2000 shares at $52.04 worth ~$104K.
• HWKN Director bought 4,000 shares at $85.50 - $89.44 worth approx. $351K.
• KRON President and Chief Executive Officer bought 3,005,122 shares worth more than $3 mln.
• OEC SVP Global Operations bought 4,000 shares at $23.51 worth approx. $94K.
• OXY  10% owner Berkshire Hathaway's (BRK.A) Warren Buffett bought 1,750,308 shares worth approx. $105.6 mln.
• PEB Chairman and Chief Executive Officer bought 45,000 shares at $13.48 - $13.72 worth about $611K.
• PKOH Director bought 15000 shares at $24.67 - $26.08 worth ~$377K.
• TLS Director bought 283,566 shares at $3.99 - $4.19 worth more than $1.1 mln.
• WSR Director bought 17,000 shares at $13.09 worth about $223K.

Sellers:

• ACVA Director sold 22,958 shares at $18.01 - $18.39 worth approx. $416K.
• ALTR 10% owner sold 200,000 shares at $91.44 - $98.00 worth nearly $19 mln.
• CCOI Chairman, Chief Executive Officer, and President sold 60,000 shares at $54.60 worth approx. $3.3 mln.
• RAMP Chief Product Officer sold 13,055 shares at $31.11 worth ~$406K.

====Cleveland-Cliffs (CLF) reported earnings on Mon 29 Jan 24 (a/h)

 

Cleveland-Cliffs reports EPS in-line, revs in-line

• Reports Q4 (Dec) loss of $(0.05) per share, excluding non-recurring items, in-line with the FactSet Consensus of ($0.05); revenues rose 1.3% year/year to $5.11 bln vs the $5.16 bln FactSet Consensus.
• "Steel demand remained healthy throughout the entire year, with our most important market -- the automotive sector -- performing well. Even with the UAW labor strike late in Q3 and into Q4, automotive steel demand remained consistently strong, as we anticipated. After it was clear that the strike was not creating any real issues in the marketplace, non-automotive clients de-stocking their inventories betting on lower steel prices were compelled to buy steel at higher prices."

Unusual Options Activity Mon 1/29/24

The following options are exhibiting notable trading, potentially indicating changing sentiment toward the underlying stocks, and/or potentially representing positioning for increased volatility.

Bullish Call Activity:

• CLF Feb 19 calls are seeing interest ahead of earnings tonight after the close (volume: 6820, open int: 1840, implied vol: ~79%, prev day implied vol: 59%).
• MO Feb 40.5 calls are seeing interest ahead of earnings Thursday before the open (volume: 4620, open int: 660, implied vol: ~35%, prev day implied vol: 25%).
• PM Feb 90 calls (volume: 1550, open int: 0, implied vol: ~21%, prev day implied vol: 15%). Co is confirmed to report earnings February 8 before the open.

Bearish Put Activity:

• VALE Apr 13 puts (volume: 10.2K, open int: 30, implied vol: ~41%, prev day implied vol: 24%). 8000 contracts traded in a single transaction. Co is expected to report earnings early May,
• ROKU Feb 85 puts (volume: 1800, open int: 490, implied vol: ~64%, prev day implied vol: 53%). Co is expected to report earnings mid-February.

Sentiment: The CBOE Put/Call ratio is currently: 0.91, VIX: (13.68, +0.42, +3.1%).

February 16 is options expiration -- the last day to trade February equity options.

Earnings this week : Jan 29 - Feb 2, 24 (wk 5)

Monday (Jan 29)

• Morning: CR BEN PPBI PHG SOFI
• Afternoon: ARE CADE CALX CSWC CLF ELS FFIV GGG HLIT HTLF HP NUE PCH SANM SMCI WHR WWD

Tuesday (Jan 30)

• Morning: AOS CVLT GLW DHR FCF GM HCA HOPE HUBB JBLU JCI MBUU MAN MDC MPC MPLX MSCI PNR PFE PII PHM SYY UPS
• Afternoon: AMD GOOG APAM ASH AX BXP CB EA ENVA EQR FIBK FBIN HA JNPR LC LFUS MANH MTCH MSFT MOD MDLZ RNR RHI SWKS SBUX SYK TER UMBF UNM

Wednesday (Jan 31)

• Morning: APTV ADP AVY AVT BA BSX BV EAT COR CMCO EVR EXTR FTV GSK GPI HES HESM LII MKTX MA NAVI NDAQ NYCB NVS ODFL OTIS PSX ROK ROP SLGN SLAB TEVA TMO UMC
• Afternoon: EGHT AFL ALGN AVB AXS BHE BOOT BDN CHRW CCS CNMD CLB CTVA CACC DGII FLEX THG KLIC LSTR MXL MTH MET MTG PTC QRVO QCOM RYN SEIC SIGI TTEK UGI VSTO WOLF

Thursday (Feb 1)

• Morning: FLWS ALGM MO ATI ATKR BALL BDX BR BIP BC CAH CMS DLX LPG DOV ETN EPD HON HII ITW IP JHG KEX LANC LAZ MTSI MRK OCSL PH PTON PBI DGX RVTY RCL SBH SNY SNDR SIRI SR SWK SXC TECH TSCO TT WNC WEC WRK
• Afternoon: ATGE AMZN AAPL TEAM BZH CPT CLFD CLX COLM COUR DECK DLB DXC EMN EXPO GEN HIG HOLX HLI HUBG KMPR LESL LPLA META MCHP MTX NOV POST RGA SKX SNCY SKYW X VIAV

Friday (Feb 2)

• Morning: ABBV AON BMY CHTR CVX CHD XOM GWW IMO LYB PIPR REGN SAIA CI TWST WT
• Afternoon: CBOE

Unusual Options Activity

The following options are exhibiting notable trading, potentially indicating changing sentiment toward the underlying stocks, and/or potentially representing positioning for increased volatility.

Bullish Call Activity:

• UNIT Aug 4 calls are seeing interest with the underlying stock up 10% (volume: 3570, open int: 0, implied vol: ~82%, prev day implied vol: 69%). 3500 contracts traded in a single transaction. Co is confirmed to report earnings May 4 before the open.
• CFG May 32.5 calls (volume: 4070, open int: 1540, implied vol: ~59%, prev day implied vol: 48%). Co is confirmed to report earnings July 19 before the open.
• QCOM Apr 116 calls (volume: 5790, open int: 730, implied vol: ~35%, prev day implied vol: 32%). Co is confirmed to report earnings May 3 after the close.
• WBD May 13 calls are seeing interest with the underlying stock 4% (volume: 20.8K, open int: 150, implied vol: ~66%, prev day implied vol: 63%). 10K traded in a single transaction. Co is confirmed to report earnings May 5 before the open.
  

Bearish Put Activity:

• CLF Apr 15 puts (volume: 2610, open int: 500, implied vol: ~85%, prev day implied vol: 55%). Chairman, President & CEO and the EVP & President of CC Services bought a total of 107,300 shares worth ~$1.6 mln. Co is expected to report earnings mid-July.
  

Sentiment: The CBOE Put/Call ratio is currently: 1.01, VIX: (16.16, -0.87, -5.1%).
May 19 is options expiration -- the last day to trade May equity options.

=Cleveland-Cliffs (CLF) reported earnings on Mon 11 May 20 (b/o)

Cleveland-Cliffs (CLF) came out with quarterly earnings of $0.04 per share, beating the Zacks Consensus Estimate of a loss of $0.18 per share. This compares to loss of $0.08 per share a year ago. These figures are adjusted for non-recurring items.

This quarterly report represents an earnings surprise of 122.22%. A quarter ago, it was expected that this mining company would post earnings of $0.24 per share when it actually produced earnings of $0.25, delivering a surprise of 4.17%.

Over the last four quarters, the company has surpassed consensus EPS estimates four times.

Cleveland-Cliffs, which belongs to the Zacks Mining - Miscellaneous industry, posted revenues of $359.10 million for the quarter ended March 2020, missing the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 2.37%. This compares to year-ago revenues of $157 million. The company has topped consensus revenue estimates just once over the last four quarters.

The sustainability of the stock's immediate price movement based on the recently-released numbers and future earnings expectations will mostly depend on management's commentary on the earnings call.

Cleveland-Cliffs shares have lost about 42.6% since the beginning of the year versus the S&P 500's decline of -9.3%.

Earnings this week : May 11 - 15, 20 (wk 20)

Monday (May 11)

• Morning: AMRX AN AVYA CAH CEVA CHH CLF CEIX CLR COTY EBIX ETR GOGO GBDC ICPT XENT MGLN MAR MYL ON ORA PK RDNT TERP UAA UNVR XHR ZBH
• Afternoon: TXG XLRN AIMT AMBC AMCR AEE AFG AMN BE BHF CABO CBT CZR CDLX CSOD DDOG DRH DIOD ERI ECPG ET ENSG ETH EB EXTR FATE FOE FBM G GDOT GSKY GO GWPH HALO HHC IIVI IPAR IFF JCOM KAMN LTHM LOGI MBI MESA MIME NHI NSA PLYA PTLA KWR REPH RETA RPAY SGMO SCSC SPG SUN TME TLRY

Tuesday (May 12)

• Morning: BNTX CVLT DUK DT FI HMC IR MAC NOVT FLOW TUFN VSH
• Afternoon: EGHT ADPT ALC ALGT NVST HCAT INFN OR PGNY RXN RLJ SWAV VREX 

Wednesday (May 13)

• Morning: CYBR PGTI TSEM
• Afternoon: ONEM CSCO FLO JACK NVGS OII SDC STE VRTU

Thursday (May 14)

• Morning: AZUL BAM AG GDS KEM NICE NCLH NVMI SPNS SSYS WNC WIX
• Afternoon: ACB AMAT CVET DENN FTCH GLOB GTBIF HBM NEWR NLOK SSRM

Friday (May 15) 

• Morning: JD PBF VFC

AK Steel (AKS) to be acquired by Cleveland Cliffs (CLF) for $3.36/share

 

 

** AKS charts after **

 

Cleveland Cliffs (CLF) to acquire AKS: fixed exchange ratio implies a consideration of $3.36/share of AK Steel

• Under the terms of the merger agreement, AK Steel shareholders will receive 0.40 shares of Cliffs common stock for each outstanding share of AK Steel common stock they own. Upon completion of the transaction, Cliffs shareholders will own approximately 68% and AK Steel shareholders will own approximately 32% of the combined company, respectively, on a fully diluted basis.
• The fixed exchange ratio implies a consideration of $3.36 per share of AK Steel common stock and represents a premium of 16% based on the closing share prices of Cliffs and AK Steel common shares, respectively, as of December 2, 2019, and a premium of 27% based on the 30-day volume weighted average price of AK Steel common shares. The transaction implies an aggregate consideration to AK Steel shareholders of approximately $1.1 billion on a fully diluted basis, a total enterprise value of approximately $3.0 billion for AK Steel and an acquisition multiple of 5.6x LTM Adjusted EBITDA.
• The transaction offers significant potential for operational synergies, which will contribute to long-term value creation for investors. The combination is expected to generate approximately $120 million of annual cost synergies to be fully realized within the first 12 months after closing, primarily from consolidating corporate functions, reducing duplicative overhead costs, and procurement and energy cost savings, as well as operational and supply chain efficiencies.

** AKS charts before  **

 

 

** CLF charts before **

 

-=Cleveland-Cliffs (CLF) reported earnings on Fri 19 Oct 2018 (b/o)

Cleveland-Cliffs beats by $0.75, reports revs in-line; Initiates $0.20 quarterly dividend 

• Reports Q3 (Sep) earnings of $1.41 per share, $0.75 better than the S&P Capital IQ Consensus of $0.66; revenues rose 6.3% year/year to $742 mln vs the $736.06 mln S&P Capital IQ Consensus.
• For the third quarter of 2018, the Company reported adjusted EBITDA of $250 million, a 66 percent increase from the prior-year's third quarter adjusted EBITDA of $151 million.
• Company begins cash dividend of $0.20 per share on an annualized basis, to be paid quarterly.
• "As we begin to wrap up the year, we expect current strong market conditions to support our strong profitability through the next quarter and into 2019. Our long-term forecast of predictable and consistent cash flow generation, as well as the great progress we continue to make on the HBI project, gave us the comfort to implement a healthy quarterly dividend."
• Outlook
• Based on the assumption that iron ore prices, steel prices, and pellet premiums will average for the remainder of 2018 their respective year-to-date averages, Cliffs would realize USIO revenue rates in the range of $105 to $110 per long ton. This range remains consistent with the prior calculation as the year-to-date average increase in hot-rolled coil steel prices has been offset by higher freight rates.
• Cliffs full-year sales volume expectation of 21 million long tons and production volume expectation of 20 million long tons were each maintained.
• Cliffs' full-year 2018 U.S. Iron Ore cash cost of goods sold and operating expense expectation is unchanged at $58 - $63 per long ton.

Cleveland-Cliffs CEO berates analysts during conference call and tells him to 'commit suicide' for being such a 'disaster' and an 'embarrassment'

• Lourenco Goncalves told analysts on a conference call that they didn't understand his company, Cleveland-Cliffs Inc., or even their own businesses 
• 'You guys should resign for your lack of knowledge of things,' the CEO said, 'You are a disaster. You are an embarrassment to your parents' 
• 'We are going to screw this guy so badly that I don't believe that they will be able to only resign. They will have to commit suicide,' Goncalves added 
• Following the rant, Cleveland-Cliffs shares sank nearly 8 percent in afternoon trading  

Cleveland-Cliffs CEO Lourenco Goncalves non-apologetic on CNBC regarding his earnings-call rant

• He is proud of CLF's strong results and today's publicity
• Not concerned about his Board at all.
• He says the Goldman analyst used the wrong share count, which is inexcusable given their investment banking relationship.
• Note: The company 'missed earnings by a penny' -- largely in-line results.

Cleveland-Cliffs defended by B. Riley Analyst on CNBC after CEO tirade on conference call 

• B. Riley FBR analyst says CEO Lourenco Goncalves did a great job turning the company around. He is passionate about his business.
• This morning, the company reported an in-line quarter and maintained guidance while initiating a dividend.
• The CEO was frustrated by weakness in the stock, which may have been influenced by cautious analyst commentary.
• He likes the stock with a $15 tgt.
• Lourenco Goncalves is scheduled to be on CNBC at some point during the final hour of trade

Earnings this week : October 15 - 19, 2018 (wk 42)

Earnings confirmed to report this week

Monday (Oct 15)

• Morning: BAC  
• Afternoon: JBHT

Tuesday (Oct 16)

• Morning: BLK  CMA FHN DPZ GS  GWW JNJ MS OMC PGR PLD  UNH
• Afternoon:  ADTN CREE CSX FULT HCSG HOPE HWC IBKR IBM  LRCX LTXB MRTN NFLX  PNFP SONC TACO  UAL UFPI

Wednesday (Oct 17)

• Morning: ABT ASML BMI MTB MTG NTRS SVU UNF USB WGO
• Afternoon:  AA BDN BXS CATY CCI CCK CNS EGBN KALU KMI SLG STLD TBK TCBI UMPQ URI WTFC

Thursday (Oct 18)

• Morning:  ADS BBT BK BX DHR DOV ERIC EWBC GPC GTLS HOMB IIIN KEY LNN MDSO NUE NVR NVS PM POOL PPG SAP SASR SBNY SNA SON TRV TSM TTS TXT WBC WBS
• Afternoon: AXP CP CE ETFC EXPO ISRG PYPL SKX WDFC WERN 

Friday (Oct 18)

• Morning: CLF HON IPG KSU MAN MINI PG RCI VFC

Thur Oct 18 a/h

-=Cleveland-Cliffs (CLF) reported earnings on Fri 20 July 2018 (b/o)

• The company was formerly known as Cliffs Natural Resources Inc. and changed its name to Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. in August 2017.

CLEVELAND (AP) _ Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. (CLF) on Friday reported second-quarter earnings of $165.1 million.

On a per-share basis, the Cleveland-based company said it had profit of 55 cents. Earnings, adjusted to account for discontinued operations, came to 76 cents per share.

The results topped Wall Street expectations. The average estimate of five analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research was for earnings of 56 cents per share.

The largest and oldest iron ore mining company in the United States posted revenue of $714.3 million in the period, also beating Street forecasts. Four analysts surveyed by Zacks expected $629.2 million.

Cleveland-Cliffs shares have climbed 23 percent since the beginning of the year. The stock has increased 14 percent in the last 12 months.

=Cliffs Natural Resources (CLF) reported earnings on Thur 27 April 2017 (b/o)

Cliffs Natural Resources misses by $0.04, beats on revs :

• Reports Q1 (Mar) earnings of $0.16 per share, excluding a $72 mln, or $0.27 per share, loss on extinguishment/restructuring of debt attributable to the liability management activities, $0.04 worse than the Capital IQ Consensus of $0.20; revenues rose 51.1% year/year to $461.6 mln vs the $412.71 mln Capital IQ Consensus
  • Total debt at the end of the first quarter of 2017 was $1.6 bln, ~$900 mln lower than $2.5 bln total debt at the end of the prior-year quarter
• U.S. Iron Ore pellet sales volume in the first quarter of 2017 was 3.1 mln long tons, a 63% increase when compared to the first quarter of 2016 as a result of increased customer demand
  • As Cliffs' management previously guided, first-quarter revenues per ton of $79.35 decreased by 5 percent compared to the prior-year quarter.
  • The decrease is a result of carryover pricing impacts from both 2015 and 2016, and changes in customer mix. The majority of tons sold in the first quarter are from products shipped under the prior-year contract pricing. Contracts that have been priced based on 2017 pricing have been favorable to prior year due to higher benchmark iron ore and hot-rolled coil steel pricing
• Asia-Pacific: First-quarter 2017 Asia Pacific Iron Ore sales volume increased 9% to 3.0 mln metric tons, from 2.8 mln metric tons in the first quarter of 2016. The volume increase was primarily related to the timing of shipments

Outlook:

• Based on the assumption that iron ore and steel prices will average for the remainder of 2017 their respective April month-to-date averages, Cliffs expects to generate ~$380 mln of net income and $700 mln of adjusted EBITDA for the full-year 2017
• This new outlook incorporates revised assumptions around Asia Pacific Iron Ore revenue realizations, which are impacted by the lower IODEX price, larger iron ore content discounts, and lower lump premiums

U.S. Iron Ore Outlook (Long Tons):

• Cliffs full-year sales and production volumes expectation is unchanged at ~19 mln long tons. Cliffs' full-year 2017 U.S. Iron Ore cash cost of goods sold and operating expense2 expectation is unchanged at $55 - $60 per long ton

Asia Pacific Iron Ore Outlook (Metric Tons, F.O.B. the port):

• Cliffs' full-year 2017 Asia Pacific Iron Ore expected sales and production volume is unchanged at ~11.5 mln tons. The product mix is expected to contain 50 percent lump ore and 50 percent fines

=Cliffs Natural Resources (CLF) reported earnings on Thur 9 Feb 2017 (b/o)

Cliffs Natural Resources beats by $0.16, beats on revs :

• Reports Q4 (Dec) earnings of $0.42 per share from cont ops, $0.16 better than the Capital IQ Consensus of $0.26; revenues rose 58.4% year/year to $754 mln vs the $668.21 mln Capital IQ Consensus.
• "2016 was the year in which we finalized the execution of the operational, commercial and financial actions necessary to ensure Cliffs will have a great future. Among the actions accomplished last year are several new sales agreements entered with clients, including the renewal of our long-term supply contract with our largest customer, and a number of capital markets transactions that were successfully executed to reduce debt and extend our maturity runway."
• "the undeniable fact that the underlying business environment was far from ideal during almost all of 2016...A much more favorable business environment in the US and a newly adopted rational behavior in the international iron ore market support the work we have done internally in our company. With a much lower debt profile and extended maturities, and several new and more favorable commercial agreements that we put in place in 2016, we expect Cliffs to deliver strong and sustainable results in 2017."
• Outlook for 2017: Co expects to generate $510 mln of net income and $850 mln of adjusted EBITDA. This is based on the assumption that iron ore and steel prices will average levels consistent with the full month of January throughout 2017.

=Cliffs Natural Resources (CLF) reported earnings on Thur 27 Oct 2016 (b/o)

Cliffs Natural Resources reports Q3 (Sep) results, misses on revs; maintains guidance :

• Reports Q3 (Sep) loss of $0.11 per share, including deb restructuring costs, may not be comparable to the Capital IQ Consensus of $0.19; revenues fell 6.7% year/year to $553 mln vs the $594.82 mln Capital IQ Consensus.  
  • Adj. EBITDA was $62 million, compared to $60 million reported in the third quarter of 2015. Cliffs noted that third-quarter 2016 adjusted EBITDA1 includes $20 million in expenses related to idled mines, a $12 million non-cash accrual as a reserve for potential retroactive electric power surcharges, and a one-time $4 million charge associated with the new labor contract signing bonus. Excluding these expenses, Cliffs' adjusted EBITDA would have been $98 million.
• US iron ore: Cliffs is maintaining its full-year sales volume expectation of 18 million long tons. The Company's 2016 production volume guidance of 16.5 million long tons is also maintained. Cliffs is maintaining its cash production cost per long ton expectation of $50 - $55 and the cash cost of goods sold per long ton expectation of $55 - $60.
• The Company is maintaining its full-year 2016 Asia Pacific Iron Ore sales and production volume forecast of ~11.5 million metric tons. The product mix is expected to contain 50 percent lump and 50 percent fines. Based on a full-year average exchange rate of $0.75 U.S. Dollar to Australian Dollar, the Company is maintaining its full-year 2016 Asia Pacific Iron Ore cash production cost per metric ton expectation of $25 - $30. Cliffs' cash cost of goods sold per metric ton is also unchanged at $30 - $35. Cliffs indicated that for every $0.01 change in this exchange rate for the remainder of the year, the Company's full-year cash cost of goods sold is impacted by ~$2 million.