Cleveland-Cliffs swings to Q3 profit and guides 2027 EBITDA above $4B on tariffs, shares jump 12%
What happened
Cleveland-Cliffs reported third-quarter results Monday morning, October 19, 2026, swinging to a profit of $152 million ($0.26 per diluted share) from a loss of $251 million ($0.51 per share) a year earlier. Adjusted EPS was $0.28, beating analyst estimates of $0.21-$0.24, and adjusted EBITDA hit $612 million — above management's $575 million forecast and Wall Street's $601 million, and the company's strongest quarter in three years. Revenue rose to $5.61 billion from $4.73 billion a year ago (analysts expected $5.7 billion), on 4.2 million net tons shipped (up from 4.0 million) at an average net selling price of $1,177 per ton (up from $1,032). For Q4, Cliffs forecast adjusted EBITDA of about $715 million versus Wall Street's $697.5 million, and guided 2027 adjusted EBITDA above $4 billion — far above the roughly $2.5 billion Wall Street had projected — citing new customer contracts and prevailing index price forecasts. Shares jumped 11-14% in premarket trading to around $13.55-$13.76.
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Who’s affected
- Cleveland-Cliffs (CLF) — direct beneficiary; reported the beat and raised guidance
- U.S. steel peers (e.g. Nucor, Steel Dynamics, U.S. Steel) — same tariff-driven pricing tailwind
- Auto and manufacturing customers — face higher domestic steel costs as contract pricing resets upward