Ramaco Resources reports upbeat Q3 despite bearish met coal market: earnings

摘要

Despite a bearish met coal market, Ramaco Resources reported stronger third-quarter sales because of a lack of index-based pricing, executives said Wednesday. “We predicted in our last earnings call in August that we felt the market looked like it was going to become more turbulent,” Randall Atkins, founder and executive chairman, said during the earnings call. “Unfortunately, we were correct.” The met coal markets are prone to extremes, he said, and are currently on a downward swing. Third-quarter sales totaled about 510,000 st, flat from Q3 2018, at an average price of $111/st, compared with $90/st in the year-ago quarter. Including purchased tons, sales were 527,000 st, down 13.5% year on year. Margins increased 24% to $31/st in Q3, as well, driven by pricing improvements, the earnings filing said.