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Schnitzer Steel Industries (SCHN) reported FebQ EPS of $0.35, at the top end of mid-March company guidance of $0.28-0.35/share, and ahead of the Street’s $0.33/share.
The company made the unusual step of not providing typical guidance for pricing, volumes and margins and instead said they would guide in the second half of May. Qualitative guidance was that recycling operating income/ton is trending higher than in FebQ on small but steady improvements in scrap pricing and supply is characterized as “steady.” The auto parts business is also seeing an uptick, with parts sales up and improved margins over FebQ; $2m of unusual legal fees will not impact the segment moving forward. Prices and utilization in the steel manufacturing business are flat thus far in the current quarter.
The company boosted its quarterly dividend nearly 11-fold to $0.1875/share from $0.0175/share, lifting SCHN’s dividend yield to 1.9% from 0.2%, but emphasized that it will continue to grow through acquisitions.
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