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 …
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Competitive advantage assessment
Key risks
Commodity Pressure / Weak DifferentiationGross margin at 8.3th percentile with high volatility suggests weak pricing power or commoditized products.
ROIC Below WACC or PeersROIC at 9.1th percentile suggests inefficient capital deployment.
The dashed ring is the peer median. Defense scores are percentile ranks
against peers, so 50 is roughly the typical company in this group.
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Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. ranks #24 of 27
scored companies in Steel by moat score — the top 89%.
The widest moat in the group is Grupo Simec, S.A.B. de C.V. (SIM)
at 79/100.
Moat scores for companies ranked near CLF in Steel
Pricing power is the ability to raise prices without losing volume.
Cost Advantage
Score 59
· 15% of the moat score
A cost advantage means delivering the same product for structurally less — better purchasing, denser distribution, a more automated process.
Customer Stickiness
Score 12
· 15% of the moat score
Stickiness is what makes revenue repeat without being re-won every year.
Capital Efficiency
Score 12
· 18% of the moat score
Capital efficiency asks what the company earns on the money tied up in the business.
Resilience
Score 22
· 17% of the moat score
Resilience is the capacity to get through a bad year on its own terms — enough liquidity, enough interest cover, and enough cash generation to avoid a rescue financing or a forced sale.
Scale & Market Position
Score 10
· 15% of the moat score
Scale matters only when it converts into economics.
Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. (CLF) scores 21 out of 100 on the StatsAlpha Moat Map, which rates its competitive advantage as weak. It ranks #24 of 27 scored companies in Steel, the top 89%. The score is a weighted composite of 6 competitive defenses, each measured against industry peers of 26 companies in Steel. Its strongest defense is Cost Advantage (59/100) and its weakest is Scale & Market Position (10/100).
How does Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. compare with other Steel companies?
Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. ranks #24 of 27 scored companies in Steel by moat score. The widest moat in Steel is Grupo Simec, S.A.B. de C.V. (SIM) at 79/100. The companies ranked closest are Algoma Steel Group Inc. Warrant (ASTLW) at 24 just above it and Inno Holdings Inc. (INHD) at 11 just below it.
How is the moat score calculated?
Each company is scored with an industry-specific template — Corporate Default in this case, chosen because the defenses that matter to a bank are not the ones that matter to a software company. Every defense combines several financial signals, and each signal is measured as a percentile against a peer group of 26 companies in Steel. The defenses are then weighted to produce the overall score out of 100.
Why is Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. scored with the Corporate Default template?
Most public companies sell a product or a service at a margin, so the moat question is whether that margin survives contact with competitors. The Corporate template scores the six defenses that show up in a general operating company's financial signature: whether it can hold price, produce more cheaply than rivals, keep its customers, earn a return above its cost of capital, withstand a downturn, and turn size into economics.
Which competitive defenses are measured for Cleveland-Cliffs Inc.?
The Corporate Default template measures 6 defenses, and CLF scores: Pricing Power (19), Cost Advantage (59), Customer Stickiness (12), Capital Efficiency (12), Resilience (22), Scale & Market Position (10). Each is scored independently as a percentile against peers, so a company can be strong on one and weak on another — the overall score reflects how those defenses are weighted for this industry.
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