Normally, when we hear news about steelmaker U.S. Steel (NYSE:X), it’s usually in conjunction with how it’s about to be bought out. However, things changed a bit today, as the still-functional steelmaker did something on its own merits. U.S. Steel invested an undisclosed amount into Freespace Robots, a Pittsburgh-based robotics firm that focuses mainly on “robotic storage and retrieval systems.” That caught sufficient investor interest to notch shares up fractionally in Monday afternoon’s trading.
Freespace will use the connection to set up pilot programs, as well as set up a manufacturing operation in the area and build its team to put out an industrial-scale operation. Freespace Robotics also gets a new board member out of the deal as Jim Cook, U.S. Steel’s director of strategy and corporate development, steps in.
Trouble Behind the Scenes?
Though this is certainly good news, there are some more troubling signs in the background. For instance, there are concerns about the quality of the U.S. Steel Tower in downtown Pittsburgh. Reports from real estate agents noted that the office tower was “pending distress,” a report rebuffed by general partner Mark Karasick as having “…no truth to it.”
But much less debatable is how United Steelworkers is “actively engaged” with the Committee on Foreign Investment to block the still-pending sale of U.S. Steel to Nippon Steel. There are also signs that meetings between Nippon Steel and the United Steelworkers didn’t go as well as either side might have liked.
Is U.S. Steel Stock a Good Buy?
Turning to Wall Street, analysts have a Hold consensus rating on X stock based on three Holds and one Sell assigned in the past three months, as indicated by the graphic below. After a 78.62% rally in its share price over the past year, the average X price target of $54.25 per share implies 13.97% upside potential.
