WEST CHESTER, Ohio (AP) — AK Steel anticipates taking a loss in its third quarter as it contends with a lower average per-ton selling price and higher maintenance expense.
The steel maker said Friday that it foresees a loss of 60 to 65 cents per share for the period. Removing a tax expense of 26 cents per share, the loss is between 34 and 39 cents per share.
Analysts surveyed by FactSet predict a loss of 20 cents per share.
AK Steel anticipates third-quarter shipments will increase approximately 3 percent from the second quarter to approximately 1.4 million tons. It expects the third-quarter average per-ton selling price to be about 7 percent lower than that of the second quarter mostly because of reduced spot market prices for carbon steel products, lower raw material surcharges and a lower percentage of value-added products in the total mix of shipments.
The West Chester, Ohio company says that the third quarter will include about $29 million in planned major maintenance outage expense, which is well above the approximately $1 million expense in the second quarter.
Shares of AK Steel Holding Corp. fell 11 cents to $6.33 in morning trading.
