United States Steel Corporation
X
announced the closure of Environmental Improvement Revenue Bonds worth $63.4 million, with a green bond designation. The bonds were issued through The Industrial Development Board, Hoover, AL. The final maturity of the green bonds is 2050 and they have a coupon of 6.375%.
U.S. Steel will use the proceeds to partly fund its new environmentally preferred, low-emission electric arc furnace at Fairfield Works. The company also stated that this is also relevant for its new electric arc furnace that recycles scrap steel as primary feedstock and employs electricity for power. Further, this partial funding of the electric arc furnace through the green bond will help the company reduce greenhouse gas emissions intensity by 20% by 2030.
Notably, this is the company’s first green bond issue that marks an important step toward sustainable practices. Per the agreement with the Alabama bond issuers, U. S. Steel will repay the principal upon maturity and pay the semi-annual interest.
U.S. Steel’s shares have gained 4.1% in the past year compared with the
industry
’s 3.6% rise.
For the fourth quarter, the company expects to generate positive adjusted EBITDA. U.S. Steel successfully completed the start-up of its electric arc furnace at Fairfield, which along with the investment in Big River Steel enables it to expand sustainable steel offerings.
Zacks Rank & Key Picks
U.S. Steel currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).
Some better-ranked stocks in the basic materials space are
Pretium Resources, Inc.
PVG
,
BHP Group
BHP
and
Silvercorp Metals Inc.
SVM
, all carrying Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). You can see
the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 (Strong Buy) Rank stocks here
.
Pretium Resources has an expected earnings growth rate of 25.5% for 2020. Its shares have returned 10.3% in the past year.
BHP Group has an expected earnings growth rate of 27.9% for fiscal 2021. The company’s shares have gained 12.4% in the past year.
Silvercorp Metals has an expected earnings growth rate of 40% for fiscal 2021. The company’s shares have surged 19.5% in the past year.
More Stock News: This Is Bigger than the iPhone!
It could become the mother of all technological revolutions. Apple sold a mere 1 billion iPhones in 10 years but a new breakthrough is expected to generate more than 27 billion devices in just 3 years, creating a $1.7 trillion market.
Zacks has just released a Special Report that spotlights this fast-emerging phenomenon and 6 tickers for taking advantage of it. If you don’t buy now, you may kick yourself in 2021.
Click here for the 6 trades >>
Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days.
Click to get this free report