ArcelorMittal shares hit 4-year low

ArcelorMittal shares hit lowest point in more than 4 years; analyst cuts profit estimates

U.S.-traded shares of Luxembourg-based ArcelorMittal closed down $1.02, or 4.2 percent, to $23.16. Earlier in the session, the stock slid to $21.43, its lowest point since August 2004.

In a client note, JPMorgan analyst Michael F. Gambardella said his firm was lowering its fourth-quarter and 2009 estimates "on expectations that falling steel prices and (ArcelorMittal's) relatively high fixed costs will accelerate pressure on margins."

"We estimate that (ArcelorMittal's) steel mill shipments will decline by 9 percent year over year in 2009 as the credit crisis spills over from the financial economy into the manufacturing and construction economies and negatively impacts not only steel demand growth but also what customers can pay for steel," he wrote.

JPMorgan reduced its fourth-quarter profit forecast to $2.33 per share from $4.07 per share and its 2009 estimate to $5.80 per share from $14.45 per share. The firm maintained its third-quarter profit estimate of $4.06 per share, in line with the company's recently reiterated guidance.-- Shares of ArcelorMittal slid to their lowest level in more than four years Thursday as an analyst cut profit estimates for the world's largest steel producer, partly due to falling steel prices.