PKX - Posco's Q3 profit plunges steel demand seen remaining weak

Steelmaker Posco Holdings ( NYSE: PKX ) -2.1% pre-market Monday after reporting Q3 net profit fell 71% Y/Y to ~600B Korean won ($419.8M), while sales rose 3% to 21.2T won due to an increase in prices at its energy and chemical units.

Q3 operating profit margin plummeted to 3.6% from 20.3% in the year-earlier quarter due to lower prices for key products as well as one-off losses from flood damage at its Pohang plant in South Korea caused by a typhoon .

The plant has not returned to full production, but Posco ( PKX ) expects to resume supplying all downstream products it makes by year-end.

According to Reuters, Posco's ( PKX ) head of marketing strategy, Eom Gichen, said steel demand likely will remain weak in H1 2023, because of economic factors such as austerity measures and "as steelmakers focus on reducing carbon emissions instead of quantitative growth."

Posco ( PKX ) has stable financial performance and provides predictable dividend yield, Sweet Minute Capital writes in an analysis published on Seeking Alpha .

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