Ryerson Inc. (NYSE: RYI) reported Q4 EPS of $0.30, $0.20 better than the analyst estimate of $0.10. Revenue for the quarter came in at $961.5 billion versus the consensus estimate of $1.02 billion.

GUIDANCE:

Ryerson Inc. sees Q1 2020 EPS of $0.31-$0.42, versus the consensus of $0.28. Ryerson Inc. sees Q1 2020 revenue of $1.03-1.07 billion, versus the consensus of $1.12 billion.

• For the first quarter of 2020, Ryerson anticipates revenues of $1.03 billion to $1.07 billion, driven by the normal seasonality patterns experienced in prior years, but mildly tempered by the recessed manufacturing demand that has carried over from the 2nd half of 2019. In addition, the Coronavirus outbreak is causing temporary and partial operational interruptions within our China service centers, resulting in decreased shipping days and reducing our revenue outlook for the first quarter by approximately $15 million year-over-year. We cannot yet quantitatively estimate the Coronavirus's impact to Ryerson's North American business, however, qualitatively, we expect that it will be a drag on business sentiment and activity. Therefore, Ryerson sequential shipment growth for the first quarter is expected to be in the range of 7 to 9 percent, excluding China. At this point in the first quarter, current carbon prices have increased sequentially, stainless surcharges have continued to decline since their peak in October, and aluminum prices continue to decline on tepid demand and over-supply. Despite these commodity price driver dynamics, Ryerson expects average selling prices in the first quarter to be flat to up 2 percent compared to the fourth quarter due to recovering carbon pricing, lower China shipments, and higher transactional shipment volumes relative to program shipment volumes. LIFO income in the first quarter is expected to be in the range of $21 to $25 million as average inventory costs continue to move closer to replacement costs. Given these expectations, Adjusted EBITDA, excluding LIFO is expected to be in the range of $34 to $38 million and earnings per diluted share are expected to be in the range of $0.31 to $0.42. A reconciliation of Adjusted EBITDA, excluding LIFO to net income is included below in this news release.

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