Just a few days back during her presidential campaign stop in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Vice President Kamala Harris made it clear where she stands on Nippon’s acquisition of US Steel (X).

Nippon Steel agreed to purchase US Steel back in December of 2023 for a price of $14.9 billion. But, Joe Biden – president at the time – expressed disdain for the deal. Biden believed that US Steel should remain American-owned, and took a stance against the Japanese company’s acquisition.

Harris reiterated this stance herself on Tuesday. Shares of X were down as a result, but have popped back up so far Wednesday morning. According to Harris, this is an iconic American company that plays a pivotal part in keeping our nation strong.

Nippon Steel wasn’t the first contender to acquire US Steel. The American-owned company turned down an offer from Ohio-based Cleveland-Cliffs because it wasn’t enough money. 

US Steel argued that this deal could actually benefit the American steel industry, positioning them better in the global market as a result. Nippon committed to invest nearly $3 billion in US Steel plants, a move that would benefit generations to come in Western Pennsylvania.

But, Biden made it clear that he has American steelworker’s backs and greatly opposed the deal during his tenure. It appears Vice President Harris will take up the same stance if elected. For what it’s worth, even former President Donald Trump dislikes the deal and will block it himself.

So, the future for US Steel remains uncertain. In the meantime, though, the stock has tumbled nearly 25% through 2024 thus far. If you’re a current investor, is this your sign to cut losses on X? Or, is there any reason to continue holding your position? 

We’ve taken a look at X through the VectorVest stock analysis software and found 3 things you need to see whether you’re a current investor or a prospective trader looking for an opportunity.

X Has Fair Upside Potential and Safety With Poor Timing

VectorVest is a proprietary stock rating system that delivers clear, actionable insights in just 3 simple ratings to help you win more trades with less work. These are relative value (RV), relative safety (RS), and relative timing (RT).

Each sits on a scale of 0.00-2.00 with 1.00 being the average, making interpretation quick and easy. It gets even better, though. You’re given a clear buy, sell, or hold recommendation based on the overall VST rating for any given stock at any given time. Here’s what we found for X:

  • Fair Upside Potential: The RV rating compares a stock’s long-term price appreciation potential (forecasted 3 years out), AAA corporate bond rates, and risk. It’s a far superior indicator to the typical comparison of price to value alone. X has a fair RV rating of 0.93. However, the stock is undervalued, with a current value of $42.08/share.
  • Fair Safety: The RS rating is a risk indicator. It’s computed from an analysis of the company’s financial consistency & predictability, debt-to-equity ratio, business longevity, sales volume, price volatility, and other factors. The RS rating of 0.97 is also fair for X.
  • Poor Timing: The RT rating is based on the direction, dynamics, and magnitude of the stock’s price movement. It’s calculated day over day, week over week, quarter over quarter, and year over year. The RT rating of 0.83 is poor for X.

The overall VST rating of 0.91 is fair, albeit a ways below the average. X is currently rated a HOLD in the VectorVest system. But if you want to dig a bit deeper and learn more about this situation, a free stock analysis is just a click away!

Want These Types of Insights at Your Fingertips so You Can Win More Trades?

Use VectorVest to analyze any stock free. VectorVest is the only stock analysis tool and portfolio management system that analyzes, ranks and graphs over 18,000 stocks each day for value, safety, and timing and gives a clear buy, sell or hold rating on every stock, every day.

VectorVest advocates buying safe, undervalued stocks, rising in price. X has fallen 24% so far this year, and it lost a bit more of its value yesterday when Vice President and current candidate Kamala Harris expressed her opposition to the company’s acquisition by a foreign company. The stock itself has fair upside potential and safety, but timing is poor right now.

Before you invest, check VectorVest! Click here to ANALYZE ANY STOCK FREE and see our system in action!