Cleveland-Cliffs (CLF) and AK Steel (AKS) say they can reduce costs by $120M a year as a combined company. Based on the valuation multiples of steel companies, the pair could be worth $600M more, writes Al Root of Barron's. That makes Cleveland-Cliffs stock worth almost $10 a share, all else being equal, or 20% higher than its close on Friday, Root points out. Reference Link

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Cleveland-Cliffs is down -6.8%, or -$1.42 to $19.43.

Says will continue to buy back stock "hand over fist." Says Cleveland-Cliffs (CLF) "the only U.S. solution" for U.S. Steel (X). Says will have to "re-assess value" of U.S. Steel. Says targeting net debt to EBITDA of 2.5x. Says balance sheet in "great shape, near record liquidity." Sees CapEx ~$1B/year from 2025-2028. Comments taken from Q1 earnings conference call.

During its earnings release yesterday, Cleveland-Cliffs announced that during the first quarter, the company repurchased 30.4M CLF common shares, fully utilizing the remaining balance of $608M under the previously authorized $1B share repurchase program. The average stock purchase price for the entire program was $18.79 per share. Following the completion of the program, the Cliffs Board of Directors authorized a new share repurchase program for the company to buy back up to $1.5B of its outstanding common shares. The new program does not have a specific expiration date.