Steelmaker Cleveland-Cliffs gave investors a jolt of good news on Monday, Oct. 19, and its stock posted a double-digit gain on the back of better-than-expected results and a much brighter outlook.
The company reported third-quarter results before the opening bell, and the shares closed up 16.34% at $14.10, a gain of $1.98, according to The Motley Fool's market coverage. The Associated Press noted that the jump came on a day when most U.S. stocks outside of artificial intelligence and tech were falling.
Why did Cleveland-Cliffs stock jump on Oct. 19?
Cleveland-Cliffs rose because it earned more than Wall Street expected and gave a much brighter outlook. Adjusted earnings came in at $0.28 a share versus a $0.22 estimate, steel prices rose, and the company said its 2027 adjusted EBITDA should top $4 billion. CEO Lourenco Goncalves called it the strongest quarter in three years.
Here are the headline numbers from the company's earnings release, filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on Oct. 19:
- Revenue of $5.6 billion, up from $5.2 billion in the second quarter.
- GAAP net income of $165 million, or $0.26 a diluted share, compared with a net loss of $134 million in the second quarter.
- Adjusted EBITDA of $612 million, more than double the $286 million it earned in the second quarter.
- Steel shipments of 4.2 million net tons at an average selling price of $1,177 a ton, up from $1,124 in the second quarter.
Compared with expectations, the picture was mostly positive. Investing.com reported that adjusted earnings of $0.28 a share beat the $0.22 analysts expected, while revenue was slightly short of the $5.71 billion consensus. Revenue was still up 18% from $4.7 billion a year earlier, and the average selling price was up from $1,032 a ton in the third quarter of 2025, a gain of about 14%.
Adjusted EBITDA also topped the company's own target. Cleveland-Cliffs had guided to about $575 million three months earlier, and it delivered $612 million.
EBITDA stands for earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization. It is a rough measure of how much cash a business's operations throw off before paying its lenders, the tax collector and the cost of wearing out…
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Kiara Miller — Founder & Editor
Kiara Miller is the founder and editor of The Evergreen Edit. He has been doing independent finance research for two decades and reviews every article before it's published.
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