AK Steel Q1 Loss Widens On Higher Costs

(RTTNews) - AK Steel Holding Corp. (AKS) on Tuesday reported a loss for the first quarter that widened from last year, as results were negatively impacted by an unplanned blast furnace outage as well as higher energy costs due to extreme weather conditions. However, loss per share for the quarter came in narrower than analysts' expectations, while revenues missed their estimates.

James Wainscott, Chairman, President and CEO of AK Steel said, "Our first quarter results were negatively impacted by extreme cold weather in the U.S., as well as planned and unplanned outages at our Ashland Works. Having worked through those challenges, we believe that AK Steel is well-positioned for a much improved second quarter."

West Chester, Ohio-based AK Steel's net loss attributable to the company for the first quarter widened to $86.1 million or $0.63 per share from $9.9 million or $0.07 per share in the year-ago period.

The latest quarter's results include a non-cash income tax charge of $31.7 million or $0.23 per share, relating to a change in the company's deferred tax asset valuation allowance.

Excluding items, adjusted net loss for the quarter was $54.4 million or $0.40 per share. On average, 16 analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected the company to report loss of $0.43 per share for the quarter. Analysts' estimates typically exclude special items.

Net sales for the quarter edged up to $1.38 billion from $1.37 billion in the prior year, but missed analysts' consensus revenue estimate of $1.40 billion.

Total shipments for the quarter declined 2 percent to 1.26 million tons from 1.29 million tons last year. However, average selling price rose 3 percent from the prior-year period to $1,096 per ton, mainly reflecting a richer shipment mix of value-added products.

AKS is currently trading at $6.49, down $0.22 or 3.28 percent on a volume of 3.82 million shares.