- Vale (VALE +0.6%) opens higher as its Q4 results show a $525M net profit vs. an $8.57B net loss a year earlier, and adjusted EBITDA more than tripling to $4.77B from $1.39B a year ago.
- For the full year, Vale reported net profit of $3.98B, aided by higher prices and record iron ore production, a huge swing from a $12.13B loss in 2015.
- The company sees the global iron ore price averaging above $80/metric ton in 2017, on the back of increasing steel demand and a smaller rise in new production entering the market, Executive Director of Ferrous Minerals Peter Poppinga says.
- Bernstein's Paul Gait believes Vale has reached an inflection point, as "cash generation and rapid de-gearing is the agenda henceforth, and we believe that the positive results today should lend further weight to this argument."