Hurdle Test
Cleveland-Cliffs Inc
CLF|Basic Materials|Steel|Fiscal year ends December|Latest annual filing FY2025, the year ended Dec 31, 2025
$12.19
Staying power
Discipline
Revenue growthCleared
27.4%
a year, FY2016 to FY2025
Rule: 10-year CAGR at or above 8%
EBITDA growthNot cleared
n/m
a year, operating income plus D&A
Rule: 10-year CAGR at or above 8%
Free cash flowNot cleared
n/m
a year after stock comp; 3-year margin -0.5%
Rule: growth at or above 5%, margin at or above 10%
LeverageNot cleared
n/m
net debt to EBITDA; 7.2B net debt
Rule: below 3.0x
Share countNot cleared
10.5%
a year, FY2016 to FY2025; issuance outran buybacks
Rule: flat or falling over the period
Cash marginNot cleared
-5.5%
latest free cash flow margin; 3-year average -0.5%
Rule: no more than 2% below the three-year average
Not clearedClears 1 of the four staying-power checks.FY2016 to FY2025Discipline 0 of 2Fundamentals Rating 16 (Fragile)Methodology 2026-10-01.1Full analysis in Wealth Engine
Ten years of price against the hurdleMonth-end closes as traded, restated for splits
Price per share
Hurdle priceAn exhibit, not a check
No hurdle price: EBITDA was not positive in enough years to set a growth rate and an exit multiple, so no purchase price returns 10% a year.
Modeled IRR at $12.19n/m
Exit EV/EBITDAn/m 10-yr median 8.1x, last FYE n/m
EBITDA growth pathn/a lesser of 5-yr n/m and 10-yr n/m, capped at 12%
Base cash flow per sharen/a 3-yr FCF margin on the latest revenue
Year-10 sale valuen/a less $7.2B net debt
Shares0.49B, held flat
Read this as arithmetic, not advice. The hurdle price is what the stated inputs imply, and the back-test found that buying below it did not sort winners from losers. Change the exit multiple and it moves; the grid below shows by how much.
Capital allocation, FY2016 to FY2025$ billions, except shares, per-share figures and yield; fiscal years end in December
| Fiscal year | Operating cash flow | Stock comp | Capex | Free cash flow | Net borrowing | FCFE | Shares (B) | FCF per share | Year-end price | FCF yield |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | 0.3 | 0.0 | 0.1 | 0.2 | -0.5 | -0.3 | 0.20 | $1.10 | $8.41 | 13.1% |
| 2017 | 0.3 | 0.0 | 0.2 | 0.2 | +0.1 | 0.3 | 0.29 | $0.56 | $7.21 | 7.8% |
| 2018 | 0.5 | 0.0 | 0.3 | 0.2 | -0.2 | -0.0 | 0.30 | $0.55 | $7.69 | 7.2% |
| 2019 | 0.6 | -0.1 | 0.7 | -0.0 | +0.0 | 0.0 | 0.28 | $-0.03 | $8.40 | -0.4% |
| 2020 | -0.3 | -0.3 | 0.5 | -0.5 | +3.3 | 2.8 | 0.38 | $-1.26 | $14.56 | -8.7% |
| 2021 | 2.8 | -0.9 | 0.7 | 3.0 | -0.2 | 2.8 | 0.56 | $5.34 | $21.77 | 24.5% |
| 2022 | 2.4 | 0.0 | 0.9 | 1.5 | -1.0 | 0.5 | 0.52 | $2.77 | $16.11 | 17.2% |
| 2023 | 2.2 | 0.0 | 0.6 | 1.5 | -1.1 | 0.4 | 0.51 | $3.03 | $20.42 | 14.8% |
| 2024 | 0.1 | 0.0 | 0.7 | -0.6 | +3.9 | 3.3 | 0.48 | $-1.23 | $9.40 | -13.1% |
| 2025 | -0.5 | 0.0 | 0.6 | -1.0 | +0.2 | -0.8 | 0.49 | $-2.08 | $13.28 | -15.7% |
| 9-yr CAGR | n/m | n/m | 26.2% | n/m | n/a | n/m | 10.5% | n/m | 5.2% | avg 4.7% |
Valuation, FY2016 to FY2025$ billions; market cap uses the fiscal year-end price
| Fiscal year | Revenue | EBITDA | EBITDA margin | Debt incl. leases | Cash & securities | Market cap | Enterprise value | EV / EBITDA | Net debt / EBITDA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | 2.1 | 0.4 | 16.9% | 2.2 | 0.3 | 2 | 4 | 9.9x | 5.20x |
| 2017 | 2.3 | 0.5 | 22.3% | 2.3 | 1.0 | 2 | 3 | 6.5x | 2.42x |
| 2018 | 2.3 | 0.8 | 32.7% | 2.1 | 0.9 | 2 | 4 | 4.6x | 1.55x |
| 2019 | 2.0 | 0.5 | 25.9% | 2.1 | 0.4 | 2 | 4 | 8.1x | 3.42x |
| 2020 | 5.4 | 0.2 | 3.1% | 5.4 | 0.1 | 6 | 11 | 65.0x | 31.80x |
| 2021 | 20.4 | 4.9 | 24.0% | 5.2 | 0.0 | 12 | 17 | 3.5x | 1.06x |
| 2022 | 23.0 | 3.0 | 12.9% | 4.2 | 0.0 | 8 | 13 | 4.3x | 1.42x |
| 2023 | 22.0 | 1.7 | 7.5% | 3.1 | 0.2 | 10 | 13 | 8.1x | 1.78x |
| 2024 | 19.2 | 0.2 | 1.0% | 7.1 | 0.1 | 5 | 12 | 59.1x | 35.95x |
| 2025 | 18.6 | -0.1 | -0.7% | 7.3 | 0.1 | 7 | 14 | n/m | n/m |
| 9-yr CAGR | 27.4% | n/m | avg 14.6% | 14.3% | -17.5% | 16.3% | 16.3% | median 8.1x | avg 9.40x |
How much depends on the exit multipleTen-year modeled IRR by purchase price and exit EV/EBITDA
The grid needs a positive hurdle price.
For put sellers
No hurdle price for this company: EBITDA was not positive in enough years to set a growth rate and an exit multiple, so there is no strike the model can call cleared.
Coming next. The monthly put strikes at or below the hurdle price, with premium, annualized yield and Zone Score from the options pipeline, for members. See plans
NotesWritten from the filings by rule; no forecasts
Revenue grew 27.4% a year and EBITDA n/m a year from FY2016 to FY2025, and free cash flow after stock compensation did not grow from a positive base. The share count rose 10.5% a year, so per-share figures grew more slowly than the totals. Net debt stood at n/m EBITDA at the last fiscal year-end.
From the data: EBITDA was not positive in enough years to set a growth rate and an exit multiple, so there is no hurdle price. The share count moved 30% in FY2016 with no split on record (a merger, offering or buyback), so per-share figures before and after that year are not on one basis. The share count moved 46% in FY2017 with no split on record (a merger, offering or buyback), so per-share figures before and after that year are not on one basis. The share count moved 33% in FY2020 with no split on record (a merger, offering or buyback), so per-share figures before and after that year are not on one basis.
Trend check
-5.5%Latest free cash flow margin, against a three-year average of -0.5%. The latest year is below trend, so the cash margin check is not cleared.
3%Capital spending as a share of revenue in the latest year, from 3% in FY2016. Rising capital intensity holds free cash flow back even when operating cash flow grows.
-1.0BSpent on buybacks in the latest fiscal year, 0.0B on dividends; the share count rose 10.5% a year over the period.
16Wealth Engine Fundamentals Rating (Fragile), as of Oct 9, 2026: Financial Health 0, Execution 27, Moat 3 of 15, Growth 5.5 of 15.
Definitions
- Free cash flow is operating cash flow less stock-based compensation less capital spending. Stock comp is treated as a real cost.
- Net borrowing is the year's change in long-term debt. FCFE adds it back to free cash flow, the classic one-page definition.
- EBITDA is operating income plus depreciation and amortization. Debt includes lease obligations; cash includes short-term investments.
- Market cap uses the fiscal year-end price as traded, restated for later splits but not for dividends; enterprise value adds debt and subtracts cash.
- Share count is the yearly change in shares outstanding over the period; flat or falling clears. Cash margin is the latest free cash flow margin against its three-year average; within two points clears.
- Hurdle price is the present value, at the hurdle rate, of ten years of modeled free cash flow per share plus a year-10 sale at the exit multiple. It is shown as an exhibit: the 2011 to 2021 back-test found that buying below it did not sort winners from losers, so it is not scored.
- Cleared on a check means the number clears the stated rule; Not cleared means it does not. Durable, Holding and First year say how many fiscal years running the company has cleared all four staying-power checks (four or more, two or three, one); Partial and Not cleared count the checks it clears today. All of it is fact about the filings, not a rating of the stock.