(By Balachander) AK Steel Holding Corp. (NYSE:AKS) forecasts a loss for the third quarter, wider than market expectations and year-ago levels, amid higher planned major maintenance outage expense.
The West Chester, Ohio-based maker of flat-rolled carbon steels sees shipments of about 1.37 million tons in the third quarter, flat with the year-ago levels and up 3 percent from the second quarter.
The company expects a 7 percent sequential decline in average selling price due to a fall in spot market prices for carbon steel products, lower raw material surcharges and lower percentage of value-added products in the total mix of shipments.
AK Steel expects a net loss between 60 cents and 65 cents per share for the three months ending September, compared with a loss of 3 cents reported in the same period of last year. In the second quarter, the company earned 10 cents a share on an adjusted basis.
Wall Street analysts, on average, expect AKS to lose 20 cents a share on revenue of $1.49 billion.
The company anticipates roughly $29 million in planned major maintenance outage expense, versus around $1 million in the prior quarter.
The stock, which has been trading in the 52-week range of $4.44 to $10.33, rose 2.33 percent to trade at $6.59 on Friday.