United States Steel Corporation (NYSE:X) Q2 2023 Earnings Call Transcript

Page 7 of 7

Jessica Graziano: Sure. Thanks, Dave. Appreciate that. So just to start, Alex, again, just to level set. So we don’t make welded. We actually make seamless tube. And that — a benefit for us, that’s more differentiated across the market. Our Tubular segment, listen, it continues to perform at exceptionally high levels. We’re benefiting from structural changes that we’ve seen across that business, right? You talk about the volatility through the cycle. But structurally, we’ve changed that business, right, focusing on those strategic basins, focusing on premium connections and this differentiation and, frankly, leveraging and continuing to enhance the improved cost base that we have with our Fairfield EAF, right? That’s a game changer for us in the Tubular business.

So we’re keeping our eye on all the things that are posing current headwinds, let’s say, within tubular, the imports that are out there, those inventory levels that you mentioned and the rig count. But as we think about maybe more nearer term, we’re also keeping our eye and monitoring distributor inventories, specifically to your question. Right now, they’re running around seven months, which is a little high. So we think in the very near term, let’s call it, Q3 volumes, probably weaker sequentially, but we do expect as the restocking happens out to the end of the year, we’ll get back to 120,000, 130,000 tons per quarter as we see, again, that inventory rebalance. So we are very pleased with not only the recent results within Tubular, but even more pleased at what we believe our Tubular business is going to be able to generate for us in the near term.

Alexander Hacking: Thank you.

Jessica Graziano: Thank you.

Operator: Thank you very much. And there are no further questions at this time. I will now turn the call back over to US Steel CEO, Dave Burritt, for closing comments.

David Burritt: Thank you for joining the earnings call, everybody. Thank you to all the stakeholders for your partnership and your interest in US Steel. We are delivering our best every day and remain focused on the things we can control. For our stockholders, our best for all strategy will generate industry-leading growth and returns to our stockholders in the near term and long term, and that’s true today. We are following our capital allocation framework. For our customers, we’re providing the quality steels you’ve grown accustomed to while investing to grow together. We can’t wait for you to see what our NGO steels can do. Customers will love it, too. For our employees, we are investing in our business to be the mine, melted, made in the USA steel supplier of choice for a re-shoring of the nation, the nation has never seen before.

We are critical to the countries and communities where we operate. We are committed to each of our stakeholders, including our collective stakeholder Planet Earth. In the second quarter, we issued our 2022 ESG report reaffirming our commitment to sustainable steelmaking and a greener economy. Our continued progress on ambitious sustainability goals is just one way we’re delivering the US Steel today. Today, strategic projects are ramping on-time and on-budget. Today, our operations are generating significant cash, $894 million year-to-date. And today, we’re rewarding investors with another $75 million of stock repurchases in Q2 with more to come. The future is now and we look forward to creating stockholder value together. Now let’s get back to work safely.

Operator: Thank you. And that does conclude the conference call for today. We thank you for your participation and we ask that you please disconnect your lines. Have a great rest of the day everyone.

Follow White Balloon Co (NYSE:X)

Page 7 of 7