Although AK Steel (NYSE:AKS) was able to turn things around some and turn a profit in the latest quarter, exceeding analysts' expectations, their guidance wasn't inspiring, causing investors to push the price of the stock down early in the trading day, and it remains down by well over 3 percent.
Earnings for the quarter were $26.7 million, or 24 cents a share, over three times the 7 cents a share analysts expected. Last year during the same quarter AK Steel lost $47 million, or 43 cents a share.
Revenue for the quarter, similar to US Steel (NYSE:X), surged by over double what it was last year, $793.6 million, to $1.6 billion.
Like their peers, there isn't much pricing power in the steel industry at this time, and the company expects prices to fall 5 percent in the quarter. That brings projections for price per ton down from $17 that was looked for to $15.
US steel also reported challenges for the next quarter on managing operational costs.
Iron ore costs are priced in to increase by about 65 percent next quarter for AK Steel and the rest of the steel industry.
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