AK Steel Sees Q3 Loss Narrower Than Street; Stock Up 10%

(RTTNews) - AK Steel (AKS) on Thursday said that it expects to report a net loss of $0.02 to $0.07 per share for the third quarter.

Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expect a loss of $0.23 per share for the quarter. Analysts' estimates typically exclude special items.

AK Steel said it expects the positive financial effects of higher shipments, lower raw material costs, cost reduction efforts and higher operating rates to partly offset low carbon steel spot market prices.

For the third quarter of 2015, AK Steel expects shipments of about 1,860,000 tons, an increase of about 3% from the sequential second quarter, driven by more shipments to the automotive market.

AK Steel expects an average selling price of about $910 per ton for the third quarter, about 2% lower than the prior quarter, due to lower carbon steel spot market pricing, which the company believes is driven by unfairly traded foreign steel imports.

Lower costs for raw materials and energy, along with the results of continued efforts to reduce costs, partly offset the effects of lower steel selling prices.