Cleveland Comments from Q2 results For the second quarter of 2023, the Company recorded net income of $356 million, or $0.67 per diluted share attributable to Cliffs shareholders. This included charges totaling $11 million, or $0.02 per diluted share, related to acquisition costs, asset disposals, severance, and accelerated depreciation of certain assets. In the first quarter of 2023, the Company recorded a GAAP net loss of $42 million, corresponding to a GAAP net loss of $0.11 per diluted share.
Second-quarter 2023 Adjusted EBITDA1 was $775 million, compared to $243 million in the first quarter of 2023.
Cliffs’ Chairman, President, and CEO Lourenco Goncalves said: “Our total steel shipments of more than 4.2 million net tons in the second quarter were a direct result of another record in automotive shipments. This shift to a higher automotive mix led to even higher realized prices than we were expecting, ultimately driving our industry leading quarter-over-quarter EBITDA expansion. Also, with the substantial free cash flow generated in Q2, we were able to reduce our debt by over $550 million during the quarter, while still returning nearly $100 million to shareholders via share buybacks. Differently from several of our competitors, our capex needs -- both now and in the next few years -- are well-known and low.”
Mr. Goncalves concluded: “Looking forward, we are on pace for our best shipment year since becoming a steel company. Service center inventories are significantly lower than historical levels, creating support for a healthy second half of the year. And finally, while the performance of our automotive clients continues to improve, the sector has not returned to pre-COVID levels yet, indicating that Cleveland-Cliffs still has plenty of value to be unlocked in the near future.”