On 24 February 2010, POSCO submitted its bid to acquire a controlling stake in South Korean conglomerate Daewoo International Corp (Daewoo). Daewoo is involved in commodities and is seeking to diversify its operations into energy development. POSCO will have to compete with South Korean retailer Lotte Group to gain control of Daewoo. Given the unavailability of exact pricing details for the ongoing acquisition we are not in a position…

We continue to believe that steel prices bottomed out in 2Q 09 and expect average steel prices through 2010 to be higher than current levels. Tightening of steel supply due to production cuts by major steel producers and boost in consumption due to massive stimulus spending by various governments on infrastructure and construction will support steel prices over the near to medium term. Although resumption of production from idle plants in Europe and the US and capacity…

POSCO reported its 3Q 09 results on 14 October 2009. While revenues and EBITDA matched our expectations, bottom-line performance exceeded our estimate. We expect improving steel prices to boost the company earnings over near-to-medium term. Hence we maintain our 6-12 month BUY rating. We will reassess our common stock rating in our next update report. We continue to anticipate a significant positive currency impact on the ADR over the coming 6-12 months....