I think steel's going to recover to robust profitability for surviving companies for the most part due to reduction in supply. |
If neither has a great outlook its hard to say who got a better deal and who got the worse one. |
Our revision does not guarantee that the copper market moves to surplus, but it does suggest the market is coming closer into balance. |
Their staffing levels are excessive, in my opinion. This isn't the first time they've laid people off, and I don't think it's the last. They are much, much leaner than they were 20 years ago. |
There's a constant rate of retirees, pension and medical payments. Nucor doesn't have that, so it's tough competing with that. |
We are lowering our rating on the copper industry to neutral from favorable as demand in the United States and some parts of Asia are weaker than expected. |
We are not reducing our earnings estimates or our price target, but we do not have the confidence in current copper demand to raise our copper price estimate of $2 per pound to the current copper price of $2.31 or our price target above $160. |