United States Steel Corp. reported that quarterly profit surged partly on higher prices and sales, but expected the first-quarter results will decline versus the fourth quarter. Following the news, U.S. Steel shares were up 62 cents in after-hours trading.
The Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania-based producer’s net earnings for the quarter nearly tripled to $297 million, or $2.50 per share, compare to $109 million, or 85 cents per share, a year earlier.
Revenue for the quarter climbed to $3.77 billion from $3.47 billion a year earlier, but declined from $4.11 billion in the third quarter. Prices for flat-rolled steel rose to $648 per ton from $597, but total shipments decreased to 4,898 tons from 4,997 tons a year-earlier.
U. S. Steel’s expect the coming quarter results to decline from the previous one, but as flat-rolled demand is increasing so steel giant have restarted several domestic blast furnaces to bring production in line with improving order rates.
In Europe, first-quarter shipments are expected to increase from the earlier quarter, with average realized prices slightly lower due to increased availability of imported product on the European market. Shipments and prices for the tubular steel segment are expected to decrease as import levels and customer inventories remain high.
Via:tradingmarkets
