AK Steel, Top Steel Makers Rise On Anti-Dumping Claim AKS X

“Continued strength in the automotive market contributed to an overall increase in automotive market and total shipments quarter-over-quarter for the company”, said James Wainscott, chairman, president and chief executive officer of AK Steel, in a written statement.

AK Steel reported a net loss of $64.0 million, or 36 cents per share, for Q2 2015.

AK Steel (AKS) beat earnings forecasts but missed on sales today. That’s after the stock price sank to a new year-long low Monday of $2.38 per share before closing at $2.52. AK Steel Holding Corporation (NYSE:AKS) has a 2.67 consensus analyst rating on the stock based on an arithmetical average of the 10 ratings given by the brokerage analysts covering the company. Most recently the firm announced earnings per share of $-0.28 for the quarter which ended on 2015-03-31. The company had revenue of $3.27 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.43 billion.

A group of steelmakers on Tuesday asked the U.S. government to impose tariffs on steel shipments from eight countries, the latest salvo in the American industry’s battle to cope with record imports. Vetr raised AK Steel Holding from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating and set a $6.08 price target for the company in a research note on Thursday, July 2nd. Barclays reissued a “hold” rating and set a $23.00 price objective (down previously from $24.00) on shares of United States Steel in a report on Thursday, July 9th. During the same quarter last year, the company posted ($0.40) earnings per share. That is down 7.7 percent from the 54,704,000 net tons during the same period last year, when the capability utilization rate was 77.6 percent. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating, four have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. The company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $6.17. The Company’s operations consist primarily of nine steelmaking and finishing plants and tubular production facilities located in Indiana, Kentucky, Ohio and Pennsylvania. “Unfortunately, however, continued high levels of what we believe are unfairly traded imports significantly impacted selling prices in the carbon steel spot market, which negatively impacted the company’s results”. The Company’s operations produce flat-rolled value-added carbon steels, including coated, cold-rolled and hot-rolled carbon steel products, and specialty stainless and electrical steels that are sold in sheet and strip form, as well as carbon and stainless steel that is finished into welded steel tubing. It also owns and operates a cokemaking facility in West Virginia.

AK Steel produces cold-rolled steel for various customer applications, including appliances, automotive products, containers, and construction.