POSCO (NYSE:PKX) Releases Quarterly Earnings Results, Beats Estimates By $0.12 EPS

POSCO (NYSE:PKX) issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday. The basic materials company reported $1.01 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.89 by $0.12, Zacks reports. POSCO had a net margin of 1.19% and a return on equity of 1.35%. The company had revenue of $11.88 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $11.75 billion.

POSCO Trading Down 1.0%

Shares of POSCO stock opened at $78.63 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $23.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 46.53, a PEG ratio of 0.54 and a beta of 1.58. The company has a quick ratio of 1.29, a current ratio of 1.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26. POSCO has a 12-month low of $42.35 and a 12-month high of $80.15. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $63.14 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $58.53.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts recently commented on PKX shares. UBS Group raised shares of POSCO from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, April 27th. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of POSCO from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 22nd. Finally, Zacks Research downgraded shares of POSCO from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 9th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold”.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On POSCO

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of PKX. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership acquired a new stake in POSCO during the third quarter worth about $8,851,000. Empowered Funds LLC acquired a new stake in shares of POSCO in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $9,223,000. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of POSCO by 57.3% in the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 423,253 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $20,117,000 after purchasing an additional 154,100 shares in the last quarter. Citadel Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of POSCO by 1,456.8% in the 3rd quarter. Citadel Advisors LLC now owns 59,453 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $2,926,000 after purchasing an additional 63,835 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its stake in shares of POSCO by 45.6% in the 4th quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 147,036 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $7,824,000 after purchasing an additional 46,057 shares in the last quarter.

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.