United States Steel (X) Flat As Market Gains: What You Should Know

In the latest trading session, United States Steel (X) closed at $17.91, marking no change from the previous day. This change lagged the S&P 500's 1.06% gain on the day. Elsewhere, the Dow gained 1.05%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq added 0.55%.

Coming into today, shares of the steel maker had lost 28.82% in the past month. In that same time, the Basic Materials sector lost 17.26%, while the S&P 500 lost 8.3%.

United States Steel will be looking to display strength as it nears its next earnings release. On that day, United States Steel is projected to report earnings of $3 per share, which would represent a year-over-year decline of 10.98%. Our most recent consensus estimate is calling for quarterly revenue of $5.87 billion, up 16.83% from the year-ago period.

X's full-year Zacks Consensus Estimates are calling for earnings of $10.98 per share and revenue of $21.36 billion. These results would represent year-over-year changes of -18.55% and +5.36%, respectively.

Any recent changes to analyst estimates for United States Steel should also be noted by investors. These recent revisions tend to reflect the evolving nature of short-term business trends. As such, positive estimate revisions reflect analyst optimism about the company's business and profitability.

Our research shows that these estimate changes are directly correlated with near-term stock prices. We developed the Zacks Rank to capitalize on this phenomenon. Our system takes these estimate changes into account and delivers a clear, actionable rating model.

The Zacks Rank system ranges from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell). It has a remarkable, outside-audited track record of success, with #1 stocks delivering an average annual return of +25% since 1988. Within the past 30 days, our consensus EPS projection has moved 6.39% lower. United States Steel is currently a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).

Investors should also note United States Steel's current valuation metrics, including its Forward P/E ratio of 1.63. For comparison, its industry has an average Forward P/E of 2.74, which means United States Steel is trading at a discount to the group.

The Steel - Producers industry is part of the Basic Materials sector. This group has a Zacks Industry Rank of 95, putting it in the top 38% of all 250+ industries.

The Zacks Industry Rank includes is listed in order from best to worst in terms of the average Zacks Rank of the individual companies within each of these sectors. Our research shows that the top 50% rated industries outperform the bottom half by a factor of 2 to 1.

You can find more information on all of these metrics, and much more, on Zacks.com.

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