Cleveland-Cliffs CEO tears into Wall Street analysts during conference call

Updated: Oct. 20, 7:45 a.m. | Posted: Oct. 19, 4 p.m.

The CEO of a mining company with extensive operations in northern Minnesota exploded at short-sellers and Wall Street analysts on Friday, saying they can't read financial reports and should resign.

"You guys should resign for your lack of knowledge of things," said Lourenco Goncalves, the CEO of Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. "You are a disaster. You are an embarrassment to your parents."

Goncalves directed much of his fury at a Goldman Sachs analyst whom he accused of "bad math" in calculating that the company's third-quarter earnings per share were less than expected.

The rant drew unusual attention to Cleveland-Cliffs, which operates iron-ore mines in the U.S. and Australia, and earned Goncalves an invitation to appear on CNBC, which he called "a big accomplishment."

However, the company's shares sank 10 percent in morning trading before recovering to close down 43 cents, or 3.8 percent, at $11.05.

In Minnesota, Cliffs owns and operates United Taconite and Northshore Mining, and is part-owner and operator of Hibbing Taconite.

The call occurred after the company reported a third-quarter profit of $437.8 million, up from $53.4 million a year earlier. After giving a routine rundown of the quarter, Goncalves went on the attack during a question-and-answer period.

The CEO aimed some of his anger at short-sellers — stock traders who bet that a stock will lose value.

"We are going to screw these guys so badly that I don't believe that they will be able to only resign. They will have to commit suicide," Goncalves said.

Later, Goncalves called out Goldman Sachs analyst Matthew Korn, asking him, "Why don't you ask a freaking question?" He was disappointed to learn that Korn apparently was not on the call.

"You can run, but you can't hide," Goncalves said just before ending the call.

Goncalves was upset that the Goldman Sachs analyst wrote in a note to clients that Cleveland-Cliffs "modestly missed" expectations around earnings per share.

The company reported that excluding discontinued operations, it earned 64 cents per share in the third quarter. That fell short of Korn's prediction of 68 cents per share and the consensus forecasts of analysts surveyed by Reuters and Zacks Investment Research — both of which came in at 66 cents per share.

Goncalves said on CNBC that Goldman Sachs had used the wrong share count — 303 million instead of 310 million — in calculating earnings per share. Goldman Sachs declined to comment or to make the analyst available for an interview.

The CEO defended his comments on the call. "I don't believe I berated anyone," he said. Most CEOs, he said, are "cookie-cutter people ... I'm different."

The incident was reminiscent of Tesla CEO Elon Musk's scolding of analysts on a call in May, which sent the car maker's stock down in after-hours trading.

Cleveland-Cliffs and its predecessor, Cliffs Natural Resources Inc., have been on a roller-coaster ride this decade. The stock price peaked above $100 in 2011, crashed to under $2 by the end of 2015, then rallied. The shares have gained 53 percent this year.

Last month Cliffs reached an agreement on a new, four-year labor contract with the United Steelworkers union.

The company has been locked in a prolonged power struggle with another mining company, Mesabi Metallics, over access to the former Essar Steel Minnesota mining project near Nashwauk.

MPR News contributed to this report.