Steel Products

Tanners to Join Wolfe Research as Managing Director
Written by Michael Cowden
August 21, 2021
Veteran metals and mining analyst Timna Tanners will join boutique investment firm Wolfe Research LLC as a managing director.
Tanners gained fame and notoriety as an equity research analyst at Bank of America (BoA) for her Steelmageddon® hypothesis – which posited that the collision of older integrated capacity and new electric arc furnace (EAF) capacity would drive steel prices sharply lower.
A measure of her fame: She drove the second-best attended SMU Community Chat webinar ever earlier this summer.
Tanners starts her new role early in the fourth quarter of this year, Wolfe Research said in a press release.
“I am looking forward to working at a dynamic firm that has a laser focus on research,” she said in a statement. “I am excited to collaborate with them, bringing my differentiated franchise and expertise to the team.”
Tanners will also help Wolfe drive debate among investors around key issues such as growth versus non-growth and the long-term inflation trade, Wolfe Research Managing Partner Ed Wolfe said.
“She is not only a top analyst that key institutional investors rely upon but (also) a woman of great integrity and objectiveness in her approach,” he said. “She will immediately be a great addition.”
Tanners during her Community Chat said that Steelmageddon® was still coming but that the timing had been pushed out a year because some new capacity projects had been delayed.
“I think it’s worth noting that hot-rolled coil prices rose dramatically from sub-$500/ton. When supply exceeds demand, that can reverse. Inventories can quickly replenish. This has happened before. If prices can jump hundreds of dollars on a monthly basis, I’m not sure why it can’t drop at the same pace on the way down!” she said. “Apparently I was called the industry’s biggest bear! I prefer skeptic or voice of reason.”
Hot-rolled coil prices stand at $1,915 per ton ($95.75 per cwt) – an all-time high. That figure is more than quadruple $465 per ton a year ago and nearly double $985 per ton at the outset of 2021, according to SMU’s interactive pricing tool.
Tanners has also worked as a steel and metals analyst at investment bank UBS. In addition to an MBA from UCLA, she holds an MS in journalism from Northwestern University.
By Michael Cowden, Michael@SteelMarketUpdate.com
Michael Cowden
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