POSCO (NYSE:PKX) Sets New 12-Month High - Should You Buy?

Key Points

• New 52-week high: POSCO shares traded as high as $71.58 intraday and were last around $70.80, up from a prior close of $67.04.
• Analysts and earnings raise caution: The average rating is "Reduce" with recent downgrades (Zacks to "strong sell", Weiss "sell"), and POSCO missed its last quarter with an EPS miss of -$0.61 versus $0.45 consensus and revenue below estimates.
• Mixed fundamentals and institutional interest: The company has a $21.41 billion market cap and a high P/E of 53.5 but low debt (D/E 0.26), while institutions like Goldman Sachs and UBS have recently increased their stakes.

POSCO (NYSE:PKX - Get Free Report) shares hit a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Tuesday . The company traded as high as $71.58 and last traded at $70.80, with a volume of 30027 shares. The stock had previously closed at $67.04.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on PKX shares. Zacks Research downgraded POSCO from a "hold" rating to a "strong sell" rating in a report on Thursday, April 9th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a "sell (d+)" rating on shares of POSCO in a report on Friday, March 27th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has issued a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, POSCO has an average rating of "Reduce".

POSCO Stock Performance

The firm has a market capitalization of $21.41 billion, a P/E ratio of 53.50, a P/E/G ratio of 0.46 and a beta of 1.43. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $61.96 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $57.21. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a current ratio of 1.88 and a quick ratio of 1.29.

POSCO (NYSE:PKX - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, January 29th. The basic materials company reported ($0.61) earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.45 by ($1.06). POSCO had a return on equity of 1.09% and a net margin of 0.97%.The business had revenue of $10.61 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $11.85 billion. On average, research analysts predict that POSCO will post 3.98 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On POSCO

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in PKX. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership acquired a new stake in POSCO in the third quarter valued at approximately $8,851,000. Empowered Funds LLC acquired a new stake in POSCO in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $9,223,000. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. grew its stake in POSCO by 57.3% in the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 423,253 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $20,117,000 after acquiring an additional 154,100 shares during the period. UBS Group AG grew its stake in POSCO by 135.6% in the fourth quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 199,914 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $10,637,000 after acquiring an additional 115,069 shares during the period. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. grew its stake in POSCO by 14.1% in the third quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 549,699 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $27,051,000 after acquiring an additional 68,104 shares during the period.

POSCO Company Profile

POSCO NYSE: PKX is a South Korea–based integrated steel producer founded in 1968 as Pohang Iron and Steel Company. Headquartered in Pohang, the company grew rapidly as part of South Korea's industrialization program and developed large, integrated steelworks—most notably in Pohang and Gwangyang—that helped establish POSCO among the world's largest steelmakers. It is structured as a diversified industrial group with steelmaking at its core and a range of downstream and trading businesses.

The company's primary activities include ironmaking and steelmaking, producing a wide array of steel products such as hot-rolled and cold-rolled sheets, coated steels, plates, stainless and special steels, long products (bars and wire rods), and seamless pipes.

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