YORK (TheStreet) -- ArcelorMittal (NYSE:MT) has been upgraded by TheStreet Ratings from sell to hold. The company's strengths can be seen in multiple areas, such as its impressive record of earnings per share growth, revenue growth and notable return on equity. However, as a counter to these strengths, we also find weaknesses including poor profit margins, weak operating cash flow and a generally disappointing performance in the stock itself.
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Highlights from the ratings report include:
ARCELORMITTAL SA reported significant earnings per share improvement in the most recent quarter compared to the same quarter a year ago. The company has demonstrated a pattern of positive earnings per share growth over the past year. We feel that this trend should continue. This trend suggests that the performance of the business is improving. During the past fiscal year, ARCELORMITTAL SA continued to lose money by earning -$1.46 versus -$2.23 in the prior year. This year, the market expects an improvement in earnings ($1.00 versus -$1.46).
Despite its growing revenue, the company underperformed as compared with the industry average of 8.8%. Since the same quarter one year prior, revenues slightly increased by 2.8%. Growth in the company's revenue appears to have helped boost the earnings per share.
Despite currently having a low debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, it is higher than that of the industry average, inferring that management of debt levels may need to be evaluated further. Even though the debt-to-equity ratio shows mixed results, the company's quick ratio of 0.45 is very low and demonstrates very weak liquidity.
The gross profit margin for ARCELORMITTAL SA is currently extremely low, coming in at 8.30%. Regardless of MT's low profit margin, it has managed to increase from the same period last year. Despite the mixed results of the gross profit margin, MT's net profit margin of -6.18% significantly underperformed when compared to the industry average.
ArcelorMittal, together with its subsidiaries, operates as an integrated steel and mining company worldwide. The company operates through six segments: Flat Carbon Americas; Flat Carbon Europe; Long Carbon Americas and Europe; Asia, Africa, and CIS; Distribution Solutions; and Mining. ArcelorMittal has a market cap of $25.15 billion and is part of the basic materials sector and metals & mining industry. Shares are down 14.2% year to date as of the close of trading on Wednesday.