'Meme stock' Cleveland-Cliffs top pick for JPM in steel sector

Reliance

16/06/2021 15:15

** J.P.Morgan begins coverage of North American steel sector
with "overweight" rating on "meme stock" Cleveland-Cliffs Inc
 CLF.N  and Reliance Steel & Aluminium Co  RS.N 
    ** Steel market set for "a pandemic-driven perfect storm"
with historically tight supply/demand pushing up prices, says
analyst Michael Glick
    ** CLF's exposure to auto industry an advantage - JPM, which
sets PT at $39; analysts' median PT is $24.50 - Refinitiv data
    ** CLF shares have jumped ~52% this year, partly fueled by a
social media-driven rally in heavily shorted stocks
    ** Among other steel stocks, JPM sets "neutral" rating on
Nucor Corp  NUE.N  and Commercial Metals Co  CMC.N , and
"underweight" rating on United States Steel Corp  X.N  
    ** CLF, which has a short interest of ~11.5% of free float
according to Refinitiv data, down 2.6% in morning trading
    ** RS, NUE, CMC, X fall between 2.2% and 4.6%; S&P steel
index  .SPCOMSTEEL  down 2.9%

 (Reporting by Sagarika Jaisinghani in Bengaluru)
 ((sagarika.jaisinghani@thomsonreuters.com;))