Analyzing Cleveland-Cliffs (NYSE:CLF) & General Steel (OTCMKTS:GSIH)

Cleveland-Cliffs (NYSE:CLF) and General Steel (OTCMKTS:GSIH) are both basic materials companies, but which is the superior business? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, dividends, risk, institutional ownership, profitability, valuation and earnings.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current recommendations and price targets for Cleveland-Cliffs and General Steel, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Cleveland-Cliffs	2	9	0	0	1.82
General Steel	0	0	0	0	0.00

Cleveland-Cliffs currently has a consensus price target of $12.90, indicating a potential upside of 16.02%. Given Cleveland-Cliffs’ stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, research analysts clearly believe Cleveland-Cliffs is more favorable than General Steel.

Risk and Volatility

Cleveland-Cliffs has a beta of 2.09, meaning that its share price is 109% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, General Steel has a beta of -0.59, meaning that its share price is 159% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares Cleveland-Cliffs and General Steel’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Cleveland-Cliffs	-6.42%	-15.48%	-4.61%
General Steel	N/A	N/A	N/A

Institutional and Insider Ownership

67.7% of Cleveland-Cliffs shares are owned by institutional investors. 1.0% of Cleveland-Cliffs shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 53.3% of General Steel shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Cleveland-Cliffs and General Steel”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Cleveland-Cliffs	$18.61 billion	0.34	-$1.48 billion	($2.34)	-4.75
General Steel	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A

General Steel has lower revenue, but higher earnings than Cleveland-Cliffs.

Summary

Cleveland-Cliffs beats General Steel on 5 of the 9 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Cleveland-Cliffs

Cleveland-Cliffs is the largest flat-rolled steel company and the largest iron ore pellet producer in North America. The company is vertically integrated from mining through iron making, steelmaking, rolling, finishing and downstream with hot and cold stamping of steel parts and components. The company was formerly known as Cliffs Natural Resources Inc. and changed its name to Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. in August 2017. Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. was founded in 1847 and is headquartered in Cleveland, Ohio.

About General Steel

General Steel Holdings, Inc. engages in the business of cell research, development, storage, and cell culture service in the People's Republic of China. General Steel Holdings, Inc. was incorporated in 2002 and is headquartered in Beijing, the People's Republic of China.