CLF vs. STLD, CMC, NUE, RS, CRS, ATI, X, WOR, RDUS, and ZEUS
Should you be buying Cleveland-Cliffs stock or one of its competitors? The main competitors of Cleveland-Cliffs include Steel Dynamics (STLD), Commercial Metals (CMC), Nucor (NUE), Reliance (RS), Carpenter Technology (CRS), ATI (ATI), United States Steel (X), Worthington Enterprises (WOR), Radius Recycling (RDUS), and Olympic Steel (ZEUS). These companies are all part of the "steel" industry.
Cleveland-Cliffs vs. Its Competitors
Cleveland-Cliffs (NYSE:CLF) and Steel Dynamics (NASDAQ:STLD) are both basic materials companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, earnings, profitability, media sentiment, institutional ownership, dividends, valuation and risk.
In the previous week, Cleveland-Cliffs had 6 more articles in the media than Steel Dynamics. MarketBeat recorded 25 mentions for Cleveland-Cliffs and 19 mentions for Steel Dynamics. Steel Dynamics' average media sentiment score of 1.21 beat Cleveland-Cliffs' score of 0.72 indicating that Steel Dynamics is being referred to more favorably in the news media.
Steel Dynamics has lower revenue, but higher earnings than Cleveland-Cliffs. Cleveland-Cliffs is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Steel Dynamics, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.
Cleveland-Cliffs has a beta of 1.91, meaning that its stock price is 91% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Steel Dynamics has a beta of 1.37, meaning that its stock price is 37% more volatile than the S&P 500.
Cleveland-Cliffs pays an annual dividend of $0.24 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.5%. Steel Dynamics pays an annual dividend of $2.00 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.5%. Cleveland-Cliffs pays out -9.8% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Steel Dynamics pays out 26.4% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Both companies have healthy payout ratios and should be able to cover their dividend payments with earnings for the next several years. Steel Dynamics has increased its dividend for 13 consecutive years. Cleveland-Cliffs is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.
67.7% of Cleveland-Cliffs shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 82.4% of Steel Dynamics shares are owned by institutional investors. 1.7% of Cleveland-Cliffs shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 6.3% of Steel Dynamics shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.
Cleveland-Cliffs currently has a consensus target price of $9.78, indicating a potential upside of 2.80%. Steel Dynamics has a consensus target price of $149.33, indicating a potential upside of 13.45%. Given Steel Dynamics' stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Steel Dynamics is more favorable than Cleveland-Cliffs.
Steel Dynamics has a net margin of 6.80% compared to Cleveland-Cliffs' net margin of -6.35%. Steel Dynamics' return on equity of 13.26% beat Cleveland-Cliffs' return on equity.
Summary
Steel Dynamics beats Cleveland-Cliffs on 14 of the 20 factors compared between the two stocks.
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New MarketBeat Followers Over Time
This chart shows the number of new MarketBeat users adding CLF and its top 5 competitors to their watchlist. Each company is represented with a line over a 90 day period.
Media Sentiment Over Time
This chart shows the average media sentiment of NYSE and its competitors over the past 90 days as caculated by MarketBeat. The averaged score is equivalent to the following: Very Negative Sentiment <= -1.5, Negative Sentiment > -1.5 and <= -0.5, Neutral Sentiment > -0.5 and < 0.5, Positive Sentiment >= 0.5 and < 1.5, and Very Positive Sentiment >= 1.5.
Cleveland-Cliffs Competitors List
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This page (NYSE:CLF) was last updated on 7/19/2025 by MarketBeat.com Staff
