Cleveland Cliffs Inc (CLF)

[Saving Grace]

$CLF Cliffs future could't be brighter. We need to look at the big picture with everything factored in.

CLEVELAND--(BUSINESS WIRE)--

Cleveland-Cliffs (CLF) announced today that it is redeeming in full, as set forth in the notice of redemption issued on April 30, 2019, all of its outstanding 4.875% Senior Notes due April 2021. Cliffs’ nearest debt maturity date is now in 2024.

This redemption is part of the liability management transaction that also included the retirement of $600 million of Cliffs’ outstanding 5.75% Senior Guaranteed Notes due 2025. The Financing Condition for this Tender Offer was the issuance of the Senior Guaranteed Notes due 2027, which was satisfied, as expected, on May 13, 2019.

Lourenco Goncalves, Cliffs’ Chairman, President, and CEO said, “With the conclusion of these latest refinancing transactions and with no maturity dates for the next five years, our balance sheet is in its best shape since I started with Cliffs in August 2014. Such remarkable financial strength continues to improve in real time as a direct consequence of the New Normal multi-year shortage of iron ore and pellets, which is driving up our pricing realizations and supporting our forecast of an EBITDA of more than $800 million in 2019.” Mr. Goncalves continued, “On top of that, with the Toledo HBI plant tracking on time and on budget, in 2020 we will be adding another layer of profitability to an already strong free cash flow profile, supporting even higher EBITDA levels going forward.”

We expect to generate in excess of $800 million dollars in adjusted EBITDA in 2019. We plan to continue to put the cash generated to good use by paying down debt and returning cash to our shareholders, both through dividends and by taking advantage of our low equity valuation with the use of share buybacks.

Cleveland Cliffs expects to generate EBITDA around $800 million this year and over $1 billion next year.

Two new processing facilities will help to produce premium iron ore pellets.

A share repurchase program is underway, with $129 million remaining to spend.

The debt load is well manageable at the current iron ore prices; moreover, after the recent refinancing, no debt will mature before 2024.

Various metrics indicate that Cleveland-Cliffs is notably undervalued compared to its peers.

The article below sums up what is really going on with Cliffs as Lorenco will again school the analysts. If you are not a Seeking Alpha member, keep refreshing the page to read the article in it's entirety. Very well written article explaining what most short selling analysts miss in conducting their evaluations of Cliffs.

Cleveland-Cliffs: The Ducks Are Being Lined Up Pretty Nicely
https://seekingalpha.com/article/4270001-cleveland-cliffs-ducks-lined-pretty-nicely