AK Steel provided guidance for its Q3 2013 financial results Thursday, indicating that it expects to incur a net loss of $0.22 to $0.27 per diluted share of common stock. About $0.09 per diluted share of the loss is related to the unplanned Middletown Works blast furnace outage after an expected partial insurance recovery.
The company expects a shipment total of approximately 1,240,000-1,260,000 tons in the third quarter compared to shipments of 1,323,700 tons in the second quarter of the year, representing a decrease of approximately 5 to 6 percent, attributed to the effects of the unplanned outage as well as a seasonal reduction in shipments to the automotive market. Also as a result of the outage, AK Steel's melt production during Q3 has been reduced, causing a delay of shipments to some spot market customers and an overall reduction in shipments during the quarter.
As for pricing, AK Steel expects its average selling price for Q3 2013 to increase slightly to about $1,065 per ton from its average selling price of $1,061 per ton during Q2 2013, due primarily to a more favorable mix of value-added products compared to the previous quarter, largely offset by lower raw material surcharges and the effect of the delayed shipments.