Ryerson Inc. (NYSE: RYI) reported Q4 EPS of ($0.17), $0.54 worse than the analyst estimate of $0.37. Revenue for the quarter came in at $853 million versus the consensus estimate of $882.8 million.

Q4 2020 Highlights:

• Continued successfully executing upon our dual mandate pandemic response plan to safeguard the health and safety of our employees and to improve the liquidity and recovery capacity of the Company.
• Redeemed $50 million in outstanding Senior Secured Notes due 2028 and ended the year with net debt of $679 million, a decrease of $244 million compared to 2019 enabled by strong cash flow generation from operations of $278 million.
• Fourth quarter revenues increased by 2.6% sequentially driven by the robust metals pricing environment and recovering demand fundamentals. Gross margin contracted quarter-over-quarter to 18.0% due to lagging contract business price resets, whereas gross margin, excluding LIFO expanded during the quarter to 19.3%, an increase of 260 bps quarter-over-quarter.
• Achieved Adjusted EBITDA, excluding LIFO of $34 million, an increase of $2 million compared to the previous quarter on higher volumes and improved pricing partially offset by restored salaries and wages, variable incentive compensation true-ups, higher delivery expenses and SAP ERP conversion expenses at CS&W.
• Generated fourth quarter loss per diluted share of $0.44, or adjusted loss per diluted share of $0.17 excluding one-time non-recurring and non-operating items.
• Exceptional working capital management during the fourth quarter with a cash conversion cycle of 62 days, a decrease of 24 days compared to the fourth quarter of 2019.
• Continuing to progress in de-risking the balance sheet through continued deleveraging and legacy liability management.
• Jim Claussen, President of Central Steel & Wire, named Executive Vice President & Chief Financial Officer of Ryerson.

Eddie Lehner, Ryerson's President and Chief Executive Officer, said, "I want to thank my Ryerson colleagues for meeting the COVID-19 challenges of 2020 with determined perseverance and extraordinary effort. I also want to thank our customers for their business as well as our suppliers for their support throughout this year of public health, economic and societal adversity. As we move through what we hope are the latter stages of the pandemic, we extend our continuing heartfelt thanks to all essential workers whose work through the crisis will be reverentially remembered for all time. Amidst a myriad of challenges, we had our best safety performance as a Company in decades. We also significantly improved both the Company's balance sheet and operating model, and we embark upon this next economic cycle with a greatly enhanced recovery capacity and a clear line of sight to further deleveraging of the balance sheet and enterprise value growth."

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