Thomson Reuters
- US Steel has seen dramatic gains and losses as Trump’s tariffs on imported metal grow closer.
- The stock has received a number of upgrades across Wall Street — a sign analysts believe tariffs will come to fruition.
Shares of US Steel have already gained almost 4% since President Trump first said he was ready to place new tariffs on metals imported to the United States — and Wall Street thinks they could go even higher.
The stock has received a number of upgrades from Wall Street analysts ahead of the expected announcement Thursday afternoon of a 25% tax on imported steel and 10% on imported aluminum.
“U.S. Steel announced Wednesday their intention to restart one of two blast furnaces at their steel making facility in Granite City, Illinois,” Credit Suisse said in a note to clients raising their price target for the stock to $55 from $48 — 17% above where the stock opened Thursday.
“In our view, this restart is a strategic move and makes sense regardless of 232 impact, as payback should be rapid and X is already short on volume,” analyst Curt Woolworth said Wednesday.
The stock has received a slew of upgrades across Wall Street in recent days as the resignation of White House economic advisor Gary Cohn seemed to leave no further hurdle for the new tariffs, yet Credit Suisse’s remains one of the most bullish.
BMO Capital Markets analyst David Gagliano gave the stock a $50 price target on Wednesday, and Christopher Olin of Longbow Research raised his target to $63 last week when the tariffs were first announced, according to Bloomberg. Wall Street’s average target is now $43.87 — in line with where the stock was trading Thursday morning.
“We acknowledge our 2018/19 price deck looks conservative, but we maintain prices given the rapid pace of escalation in today’s pricing environment,” said Credit Suisse. “As fixed costs will largely remain the same, the additional volume should contribute to higher incremental margins.”
US Steel is down 3% Thursday, trading at $44.29 at the time of writing, and up 18% since the beginning of 2018.
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