Sifting through countless of stocks in the Metals & Mining industry can be tedious, and sometimes two stocks are just too similar to judge which is the better investment. If you’re on the fence about investing in Cleveland-Cliffs Inc., Steel Dynamics or Inc. because you’re not sure how they measure up, it’s important to compare them on a few factors before making your decision.

Read on to learn how Cleveland-Cliffs Inc., Steel Dynamics and Inc. compare based on key financial metrics to determine which better meets your investment needs.

About Cleveland-Cliffs Inc., Steel Dynamics and Inc.

Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. operates as a steel producer in the United States and Canada. It offers hot-rolled, cold-rolled, and coated products, such as aluminized, electrogalvanized, and galvalume products, as well as galvanneal and hot-dipped galvanized products; stainless and electrical products, including GOES, NOES, and auto chrome; plate products; and slab and other steel products. The company also provides non- steelmaking products comprising stamped components, tool and die, and tubing; and scrap, iron ore, HBI, coal, and coke products. It also provides tubular components, including carbon steel, stainless steel, and electric resistance welded tubing products. In addition, the company is involved in the mining of iron ore; production of pellets and direct reduced iron; and processing of ferrous scrap through primary steelmaking and downstream finishing, stamping, tooling, and tubing. It serves direct automotive, infrastructure and manufacturing, distributors and converters, and steel producers. The company was formerly known as Cliffs Natural Resources Inc. and changed its name to Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. in August 2017. Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. was founded in 1847 and is headquartered in Cleveland, Ohio.

Steel Dynamics, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, operates as a steel producer and metal recycler in the United States. It operates through four segments: Steel Operations, Metals Recycling Operations, Steel Fabrication Operations, and Aluminum Operations. The Steel Operations segment offers hot rolled, cold rolled, and coated steel products; parallel flange beams and channel sections, large unequal leg angles, and reinforcing steel bars, standard strength carbon, intermediate alloy hardness, and premium grade rail products; engineered special-bar-quality products, merchant-bar-quality products, and other engineered round steel bars; channels, angles, flats, merchant rounds, and reinforcing steel bars; and specialty shapes and light structural steel products. This segment also engages in turning, polishing, straightening, chamfering, precision saw-cutting, and heat treating of bar products. Its products are used in construction, automotive, manufacturing, transportation, heavy and agricultural equipment, energy, and pipe and tube markets. The Metals Recycling Operations segment is involved in the ferrous and nonferrous scrap metal processing, transportation, marketing, brokerage, and scrap management services. Its ferrous products include heavy melting steel, busheling, bundled scrap, shredded scrap, steel turnings, and cast-iron products; and nonferrous products comprise aluminum, brass, copper, stainless steel, and other nonferrous metals. The Steel Fabrication Operations segment produces steel non-residential building components, such as steel joists, joist girders, and steel deck products for non-residential steel fabricators, metal building companies, general construction contractors, developers, property owners, brokers, and governmental entities. The Aluminum Operations segment offers recycled aluminum flat rolled products. The company also exports its products. Steel Dynamics, Inc. was incorporated in 1993 and is headquartered in Fort Wayne, Indiana.

Latest Metals & Mining and Cleveland-Cliffs Inc., Steel Dynamics, Inc. Stock News

As of September 11, 2026, Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. had a $6.9 billion market capitalization, compared to the Metals & Mining median of $1.7 million. Cleveland-Cliffs Inc.’s stock is down 9.2% in 2026, down 1.8% in the previous five trading days and up 6.07% in the past year.

Currently, Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. does not have a price-earnings ratio. Cleveland-Cliffs Inc.’s trailing 12-month revenue is $19.2 billion with a -4.6% net profit margin. Year-over-year quarterly sales growth most recently was 5.9%. Analysts expect adjusted earnings to reach $-0.166 per share for the current fiscal year. Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. does not currently pay a dividend.

As of September 11, 2026, Steel Dynamics, Inc. had a $34.4 billion market cap, putting it in the 91st percentile of all stocks. Steel Dynamics, Inc.’s stock is up 41.5% in 2026, down 2.5% in the previous five trading days and up 80.67% in the past year.

Currently, Steel Dynamics, Inc.’s price-earnings ratio is 21.8. Steel Dynamics, Inc.’s trailing 12-month revenue is $20.5 billion with a 7.8% net profit margin. Year-over-year quarterly sales growth most recently was 33.4%. Analysts expect adjusted earnings to reach $17.217 per share for the current fiscal year. Steel Dynamics, Inc. currently has a 0.9% dividend yield.

How We Compare Cleveland-Cliffs Inc., Steel Dynamics and Inc. Stock Grades

Stock evaluation requires access to huge amounts of data and the knowledge and time to sift through it all, make sense of financial ratios, read income statements and analyze recent stock movements. AAII created A+ Investor, a robust data suite that condenses data research in an actionable and customizable way suitable for investors of all knowledge levels, to help investors streamline and work through such data.

AAII’s proprietary stock grades come with A+ Investor. These offer intuitive A‐F grades for each of five key investing factors: value, growth, momentum, earnings estimate revisions and quality. Here, we’ll take a closer look at Cleveland-Cliffs Inc., Steel Dynamics and Inc.’s stock grades to see how they measure up against one another.

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Cleveland-Cliffs Inc., Steel Dynamics and Inc. Stock Value Grades

Company	Ticker	Value
Cleveland-Cliffs Inc.	CLF	C
Steel Dynamics, Inc.	STLD	D

Successful stock investing involves buying low and selling high, so stock valuation is an important consideration for stock selection.

Buying stocks that are going to go up typically means buying stocks that are undervalued in the first place, although momentum investors may argue that point.

AAII’s A+ Investor Value Grade derives from a stock’s value score. The Value Score is the percentile rank of the average of the percentile ranks of the price-to-sales ratio, price-earnings ratio, enterprise-value-to-EBITDA (EV/EBITDA) ratio, shareholder yield, price-to-book-value ratio and price-to-free-cash-flow ratio. The score is variable, meaning it can consider all six ratios or, should any of the six ratios not be valid, the remaining ratios that are valid. To be assigned a Value Score, stocks must have a valid (non-null) ratio and corresponding ranking for at least two of the six valuation ratios.

Stocks with a Value Score from 81 to 100 are considered deep value, those with a score between 61 and 80 are a good value and so on.

Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. has a Value Score of 43, which is Average. Steel Dynamics, Inc. has a Value Score of 35, which is Expensive.

The Value Stock Winner: No Clear Winner

Neither Cleveland-Cliffs Inc., Steel Dynamics or Inc. has a high enough value grade to be considered a “winner.” Investors who are considering these companies should do additional due diligence and research to see if either could be a good addition to their portfolio. It’s important to look at a wide range of financial metrics in order to determine if Cleveland-Cliffs Inc., Steel Dynamics or Inc. is the better investment when it comes to value.

Cleveland-Cliffs Inc., Steel Dynamics and Inc. Growth Grades

Company	Ticker	Growth
Cleveland-Cliffs Inc.	CLF	F
Steel Dynamics, Inc.	STLD	B

The foundation of growth investing is seeking out stocks of companies exhibiting strong, consistent and prolonged growth that is expected to continue into the future.

In order to compute the growth score and assign it a letter grade, the percentile ranks for each of three components‐consistency of annual sales growth, five-year sales growth rankings adjusted for extreme levels, and consistency of positive annual cash from operations‐must be determined. These three rank figures are added together, and the sum is ranked against the entire stock universe to arrive at a company’s Growth Score to create an equal distribution of grades.

The companies in the bottom 20% of the stock universe receive Growth Grades of F, considered to be very weak, while those in the top 20% receive A grades, which are considered very strong.

Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. has a Growth Score of 12, which is Very Weak. Steel Dynamics, Inc. has a Growth Score of 64, which is Strong.

The Growth Grade Winner: Steel Dynamics, Inc.

As you can clearly see from the Growth Grade breakdown above, Steel Dynamics, Inc. has a more attractive growth grade than Cleveland-Cliffs Inc.. For investors who focus solely on how a company is growing relative to other companies in the same industry, Steel Dynamics, Inc. could be a good stock to add to their portfolio. However, it’s important for investors to analyze multiple factors based on a wide range of metrics before deciding whether to buy.

Cleveland-Cliffs Inc., Steel Dynamics and Inc.’s Estimate Revisions Grades

Company	Ticker	Earnings Estimate
Cleveland-Cliffs Inc.	CLF	B
Steel Dynamics, Inc.	STLD	C

Earnings estimate revisions scores consider the magnitude of a company’s earnings surprise in its last two reported fiscal quarters. Often, positive surprises beget further positive surprises‐or at least continued sales growth (the exact opposite is generally true, too).

Estimate revisions offer an indication of what analysts are thinking about the short-term prospects of a firm. Estimate revisions are based on the statistical significance of a firm’s last two quarterly earnings surprises and the percentage change in its consensus estimate for the current fiscal year over the past month and past three months.

Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. has a Earnings Estimate Score of 65, which is Positive. Steel Dynamics, Inc. has a Earnings Estimate Score of 55, which is Neutral.

The Earnings Estimate Revisions Grade Winner: Cleveland-Cliffs Inc.

As you can clearly see from the Earnings Estimate Revisions Grade breakdown above, Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. has a better Earnings Estimate Revisions Grade than Steel Dynamics, Inc.. For those who are specifically looking for companies with better short-term prospects when compared to other companies in the same industry, Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. could be a good stock to invest in. However, it’s important to analyze multiple factors based on a wide range of metrics before deciding whether to buy.

Other Cleveland-Cliffs Inc., Steel Dynamics and Inc. Grades

In addition to Growth, Estimate Revisions and Value, A+ Investor also provides grades for Momentum and Quality.

Momentum grades help uncover stocks experiencing anomalously high rates of return; research finds that stocks with high relative levels of momentum tend to outperform, whereas those with low levels of momentum tend to continue underperforming.

AAII’s A+ Investor Quality Grade comes from the ranking of key metrics. Specifically, the quality grade is the percentile rank of the composite of return on assets (ROA), return on invested capital (ROIC), gross profit relative to assets, buyback yield, change in total liabilities to assets, accruals, Z double prime bankruptcy risk (Z) score and F-Score.

These 2 key factors, when combined with the above, provide a holistic view into a particular stock. Further, by joining A+ Investor you can see whether Cleveland-Cliffs Inc., Steel Dynamics and Inc. pass any of our 60+ stock screens that have outperformed the market since their creation.

So, Which Is the Better Investment, Cleveland-Cliffs Inc., Steel Dynamics or Inc. Stock?

Overall, Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. stock has a Value Score of 43, Growth Score of 12 and Estimate Revisions Score of 65.

Steel Dynamics, Inc. stock has a Value Score of 35, Growth Score of 64 and Estimate Revisions Score of 55.

Comparing Cleveland-Cliffs Inc., Steel Dynamics and Inc.’s grades, scores and metrics can act as a solid basis to determine whether they may be a good investment or not. You’ll also want to look at your portfolio’s asset allocation as well as your risk tolerance and financial goals to see if either of these stocks would make a good fit for you. AAII can help you figure out which investments align with your individual needs and preferences.

Investors are encouraged to do their own due diligence and research. In this way, individuals can effectively become managers of their own assets‐without having to rely on others for financial independence. You can count on AAII for timeless articles on financial planning and stock-picking, unbiased research and actionable analysis.

A+ Investor adds to our qualitative teaching with a powerful data suite to help you whittle down investment choices to find stocks, exchange-traded funds (ETFs) or mutual funds that meet your needs.

AAII Disclaimer

We make no representations or warranties that any investor will, or is likely to, achieve profits similar to those shown, because past, hypothetical or simulated performance is not necessarily indicative of future results. Before making an investment decision, you should consider your circumstances and whether the information on our content is applicable to your situation. This information was prepared in good faith, and we accept no liability for any errors or omissions. The full disclaimer can be read here.