Domestic steel maker United States Steel and its foreign rival Reliance Steel are scheduled to report first-quarter earnings next week. Both companies are expected to come up with stellar performances. Which of these will come out ahead? Such a comparison comes into sharp focus considering Trump’s latest policy imperative: steel imports.

Trump Probe Bolster Steel Stocks

After being stuck in a long rut, steel stocks rebounded yesterday. The industry’s rebound was backed by President Trump’s announcement of an investigation into whether cheap steel imports from China and other nations are hurting our national security. President Trump said yesterday that “steel is critical to both our economy and our military” and it is a “historic day for American steel.” Following this statement shares of United States Steel (X – Free Report) , AK Steel Holding Corporation (AKS – Free Report) and Steel Dynamics, Inc. (STLD – Free Report) increased 7.4%, 8.6% and 6.8%, respectively.

U.S. Steel had acknowledged earlier that it entered 2017 with improved market conditions than what it had faced at the onset of 2016. The company said that it expects net earnings of around $3.08 per share for 2017 should market conditions remain robust. This came as a breather for the company’s analysts after it incurred an adjusted loss of $1.60 per share last year.

Reliance Steel & Aluminum (RS – Free Report) , in its fourth quarter of 2016, projected demand to be up by 8% to 10% on a sequential basis in the first quarter of 2017. Moreover, the company had forecast average selling price to increase 2% to 4% from the fourth quarter of 2016.

Price Performance

Shares of both United States Steel and Reliance Steel notched up gains in the last year but U.S. Steel is a clear winner on this count with a return of more than 55.9% in the last twelve months. In contrast, Reliance Steel increased only 7%, falling behind the S&P 500 which rallied around 11.6% during the same period.

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