Steel

Guangda Special Materials held its 2026 semi-annual earnings briefing online on September 30, responding to questions about artificial intelligence applications, the employee stock ownership plan, product expansion, and raw material price fluctuations. The company's 2026 semi-annual report shows operating revenue of 2.323 billion yuan, down 8.36 percent year on year; net profit attributable to the parent company of 12.34 million yuan, down 93.33 percent; non-GAAP net profit attributable to the parent company of 11.32 million yuan, down 93.67 percent; net operating cash flow of negative 231 million yuan; and a main business gross margin of 13.37 percent, down 7.31 percentage points from the same period last year, mainly affected by reduced new installed capacity in the downstream wind power industry. Regarding the progress of the employee stock ownership plan that investors are concerned about, the company responded that within six months after approval by the shareholders' meeting, the management committee of the employee stock ownership plan will complete the purchase of underlying shares through methods such as buying the company's A-shares on the secondary market, and the company will complete the position building gradually during the building period based on market conditions. On artificial intelligence, the company said the relevant applications are still in the evaluation and testing stage, have not formed large-scale applications, and have no material impact on company performance. In terms of product expansion, the company has passed the international aerospace quality management system certification AS9100D, and its production technology for high-purity superalloy electroslag ingots has been applied in fields such as aircraft engines and gas turbines. Homogeneous fine-grained superalloy forgings have been supplied in batches to aircraft engines, rocket engines, and gas turbines. The aerospace superalloy UNS N07041 has achieved batch supply, and the company has carried out cooperation with relevant customers in the aerospace field and achieved batch supply.

The Stock Exchange of Thailand has notified that the securities of City Steel Public Company Limited, or CITY, may be subject to delisting after audited financial statements for 2024 to 2026 showed the company's operating revenue remained below 100 million baht for three consecutive years, under the SET's regulations on delisting of listed securities issued in 2021. The SET will announce that CITY meets the grounds for possible delisting starting from 1 October 2026, and will post an NC sign while maintaining an SP sign to prohibit trading of the company's securities. CITY must disclose its plan to remedy the possible delisting grounds, together with a timeframe and rehabilitation guidelines, to shareholders and investors by 1 November 2026. Once the plan is fully disclosed, the SET will allow trading of the securities for one month, after which trading will be prohibited again until the company resolves the delisting grounds. CITY is required to complete the remedy of the possible delisting grounds within three years from 1 October 2026, otherwise the SET may proceed to delist CITY's securities.

Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. shares tumbled nearly 8% in late Monday trading after reports that its Canadian subsidiary, Stelco Holdings Inc., plans to halt operations at a key Ontario processing facility. According to a letter to customers obtained by Bloomberg News, Stelco expects to indefinitely idle its cold-rolled and coated operations at Hamilton Works in the coming weeks, with the wind-down scheduled to begin on Oct. 9 and expected to result in approximately 350 job cuts, according to local reporting from the Hamilton Spectator. The curtailment comes as Canadian steelmakers face pressure from a 50% U.S. tariff maintained under Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act, which Stelco said Ottawa's countermeasures proved insufficient to offset. To mitigate the fallout, Cleveland-Cliffs is shifting primary manufacturing focus to its more integrated Lake Erie Works facility in Nanticoke, Ontario, and Cliffs spokesperson Patricia Persico said in an emailed statement to Bloomberg that total steel output will remain unchanged even as the product mix pivots toward a higher concentration of hot-rolled coil. Stelco said it will honor existing customer orders during the transition while maintaining full capacity for hot-rolled steel deliveries.

The Shanghai Stock Exchange issued a disciplinary decision on September 24, publicly reprimanding Shanghai Broadband Technology Co., Ltd., known as Delisted Shanghai Broadband Technology before its delisting, stock code 600608, along with five responsible individuals: former vice chairman Liu Wenxin, former chairman Zhang Lu, former vice chairman Yun Feng, former deputy general manager Gao Rui, and former director and general manager Wang Liang. The investigation found that starting in 2023, the company participated in agricultural product trade business led by Hongyun Supply Chain Co., Ltd. Both upstream and downstream parties were affiliated entities of Hongyun Supply Chain or companies introduced and designated by it. The company only fulfilled the obligation of advancing funds and collected fund usage fees at a certain rate. It neither actually controlled the agricultural goods nor was responsible for transportation. This business was in name a trade but in substance a financing arrangement, and the company's recognition of operating revenue using either the gross method or the net method did not comply with regulations. The above business resulted in false records in the company's 2023 and 2024 annual reports. In 2023, operating revenue was inflated by 24.91 million yuan, accounting for 14.56 percent of the operating revenue recorded in that period's report. In 2024, operating revenue was inflated by 3.60 million yuan, accounting for 20.92 percent of the operating revenue recorded in that period's report. On April 30, 2026, the company issued an announcement on the correction of prior accounting errors and retrospective adjustments, retrospectively adjusting the financial statements for the above years. Delisted Shanghai Broadband Technology was formally delisted by the Shanghai Stock Exchange on July 3, 2026, terminating its listing. The reason was that it triggered financial mandatory delisting indicators: the company's 2025 annual report showed that its audited net profit after deducting non-recurring items for 2025 was negative and operating revenue was below 300 million yuan, while the financial accounting report received a qualified audit opinion and internal controls received a disclaimer of opinion audit report.

Worthington Enterprises reported higher sales and firmer earnings per share in its fiscal first quarter update and declared a fresh quarterly dividend. The stock closed at $58.94, up 8.43% over seven days and 13.43% year to date, though its one year total shareholder return is down 0.80%, against three year and five year total shareholder returns of 45.93% and 87.30%. The most followed analyst narrative pegs fair value at $65.40, implying roughly 10% undervaluation, with a consensus analyst target near $65.40, a high target of $76.00 and a low of $47.00. That framework cites recent earnings growth of 62.5% and a net margin of 11.3%, alongside forecasts of about 4% annual revenue expansion, 8.71% yearly earnings growth and a future P/E of 17.77x. The company faces pressure from trade and tariff uncertainty and from weaker equity earnings tied to softer steel pricing.

Nucor Corporation forecast third-quarter earnings of $5.55 to $5.65 per share, guidance that fell short of Wall Street expectations and sent shares down more than 3% in after-hours trading on September 17. The outlook still marks a substantial increase from the $2.63 per share Nucor reported in the third quarter of last year, but it came in below analysts' expectations of approximately $6.20 per share. Nucor expects higher average selling prices to support earnings in its steel mills and steel products segments on higher volumes and higher average realized selling prices, but anticipates higher product costs that could limit the benefit, while its raw materials business is expected to be hurt by lower pricing and shipments and higher corporate expenses could also weigh on results. The company warned that global steel overcapacity and imports remain a significant industry risk, and that its earnings stay exposed to swings in key input costs. Hedge fund interest rose modestly in the second quarter, with 62 hedge funds holding positions versus 59 in the first quarter, though Berkshire Hathaway cut its Nucor stake by 53% to approximately $413.81 million and Slate Path Capital reduced its position by 39% to approximately $280.39 million. Short interest climbed from approximately 3.69 million shares as of July 31 to 4.11 million shares as of August 31, roughly 1.81% of the company's shares.

Steel Dynamics issued weaker third-quarter earnings guidance, sending its shares down 4.1%. Xenon Pharmaceuticals announced it is temporarily pausing enrollment in its clinical studies for treatments for major and bipolar depression amid reports of side effects, and its shares plummeted 30.7%. Advanced Micro Devices rose 2.7% and Texas Instruments climbed 3.3%, both on the broader semiconductor rally.

Nucor Corporation issued third-quarter earnings guidance of US$5.55 to US$5.65 per diluted share, a range that came in below Wall Street expectations even as management said steel demand and pricing remain firm. The company's board also declared a regular quarterly cash dividend of US$0.56 per share, payable on November 10, 2026, to shareholders of record as of September 30, 2026, marking Nucor's 214th consecutive quarterly payout. The guidance shortfall against analyst forecasts sharpens investor focus on near-term earnings visibility and on how resilient current steel demand and pricing really are, set against major capacity and product investments that carry execution and utilization risk. Nucor's narrative projects $40.5 billion in revenue and $4.5 billion in earnings by 2029, requiring 3.9% yearly revenue growth and a $1.6 billion earnings increase from $2.9 billion today, while some of the most optimistic analysts had assumed revenue of about US$44.8 billion and earnings of roughly US$5.1 billion a year.

Xenon Pharmaceuticals plunged 24% in premarket trading after submitting a New Drug Application to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for azetukalner as a treatment for focal seizures in epilepsy while voluntarily pausing new patient enrollment in ongoing Phase 3 trials for major depressive disorder and bipolar depression. Netflix slipped 2.1% after Wells Fargo downgraded the streaming giant to Underweight from Equal Weight and cut its price target to $57 from $80, citing weakening engagement trends. Array Technologies fell 3.1% to $4.11 after UBS downgraded the solar tracking company to Neutral from Buy and cut its price target to $5 from $10, pointing to a shift from payment-in-kind to cash payments on preferred dividend obligations that UBS estimates will total roughly $162 million in cumulative cash payments through 2030. Steel Dynamics dropped 3.4% after guiding third-quarter 2026 earnings to $5.34 to $5.38 per diluted share, below the analyst consensus of $5.60. Frontline fell 6% as the tanker company went ex-dividend for a combined payout of $3.41 per share, made up of a regular second-quarter dividend of $2.61 and a special dividend of $0.80 funded by the sale of two very large crude carriers.

Xenon Pharmaceuticals shares plunged 27% after the company paused enrollment in azetukalner studies for major depressive disorder and bipolar depression following reports of neuropsychiatric adverse events. Xenon said the events are consistent with the drug's known safety and tolerability profile and mechanism but had not previously been observed in its Phase 2 X-NOVA study in MDD, and it expects the pause to be temporary while it evaluates dosing adjustments; currently enrolled patients and those in open-label extension studies will continue treatment. The pause does not affect azetukalner studies in focal seizures or primary generalized tonic-clonic seizures, and Xenon has submitted an NDA to the FDA for focal seizures. Nucor fell 2% and Steel Dynamics fell 2% after both steelmakers issued Q3 earnings guidance below Wall Street expectations, with Nucor expecting Q3 earnings of $5.55-$5.65 per share versus the $5.99 consensus and Steel Dynamics expecting $5.34-$5.38 per share versus the $5.60 consensus. Intapp rose 3% after announcing a partnership with OpenAI to make Celeste, its expert AI coworker, available as a plug-in for ChatGPT Enterprise, with the plug-in available to eligible Intapp Celeste clients starting Thursday.

Nucor and Steel Dynamics both issued downside third-quarter earnings guidance after Thursday's close, sending their shares down 3.7% and 3.4% respectively in post-market trading. Nucor forecast Q3 earnings of $5.55-$5.65 per share, below the FactSet consensus estimate of $5.99 per share but above the $5.04 reported in Q2 and $2.63 in the year-earlier quarter. Nucor said Q3 earnings are expected to rise in its steel mills and steel products segments on higher average selling prices and stable volumes, partly offset by higher costs of products sold, while its raw materials segment is expected to decline on lower pricing and shipments. Steel Dynamics guided to Q3 earnings of $5.34-$5.38 per share, below the FactSet consensus of $5.60 per share but above the $3.69 reported in Q2 and $2.74 a year earlier. Steel Dynamics expects profitability from its steel operations to come in significantly higher than Q2 on metal margin expansion across the platform and record shipments, with average realized steel selling values rising alongside lower scrap costs, though earnings from its metals recycling operations are seen falling below Q2 on lower metal spreads and modestly lower shipments.