MT - ArcelorMittal racks up 'strongest in a decade' Q1 as steel prices surge

ArcelorMittal (MT) +0.5% pre-market after reporting better than estimated Q1 earnings, as steel prices soared in the period that saw commodities boom."The first quarter of this year has been our strongest in a decade," incoming CEO Aditya Mittal says.ArcelorMittal swung to a Q1 net profit of $2.29B from a loss of $1.12B in the same period a year ago.Q1 EBITDA jumped to $3.24B from $967M in the year-earlier quarter and above a company-provided consensus of $2.97B.Q1 steel production totaled 17.6M metric tons and shipments were 16.5M mt; iron ore production came in at 13.3M mt, with shipments totaling 9.8M mt.ArcelorMittal reiterated its forecast for steel demand growth of 4.5%-5.5% this year.The company reiterated its plan to return $570M to shareholders and pay a $0.30/share dividend in June.

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ArcelorMittal racks up 'strongest in a decade' Q1 as steel prices surge