FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) — Steel company Metals USA Holdings Corp. said its second-quarter net income jumped nearly tenfold compared with last year on higher sales and prices.
The company said Monday its net income for quarter ended June 30 was $21.5 million, or 57 cents per share, compared with $2.5 million, or 7 cents per share, during the same quarter last year.
Revenue during the quarter was $505.6 million, up 51 percent from $335 million during the same period last year.
The company's earnings beat analyst expectations of 48 cents per share, according to a survey by FactSet. But overall revenue came in lower than the $511.8 million expected.
Metals USA CEO Lourenco Goncalves said the results were boosted by higher prices for the company's flat-rolled and non-ferrous product lines. The higher prices boosted profits margins in those divisions, Goncalves said.
Stronger demand from factories should keep prices elevated through the end of the summer, Goncalves said.
"A favorable steel price environment in the third quarter, supported by higher prices for iron ore, coking coal and scrap, should translate into strong margins for our business," he said in a statement, without providing detailed third-quarter profit forecasts.
For more than two years, companies like Metals USA have been battered by a weak manufacturing sector in the U.S. and overseas, as factories have cut back on steel orders in the face of tepid sales.
Metals USA, based in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., makes processed carbon steel, stainless steel, aluminum and roofing products. The company went public in 2010, and its stock has fallen since it debuted with a price of $21. In the past year, the stock has traded between $10.96 and $17.14.
Metals USA's shares rose 24 cents, or 1.6 percent, to $15.34 in morning trading.
