AK Steel today reported its financial results for the second quarter of 2019. The company’s net income totaled $66.8 million, compared to Q2 2018 net income of $56.6 million. Net sales for the second quarter totaled $1.7 billion, a 4 percent decrease compared to the second quarter of 2018. The decrease was primarily due to lower shipments to the automotive market, as expected, and lower spot market selling prices, partly offset by higher selling prices to the automotive market.
“We reported solid earnings for the second quarter, despite a dramatic decline in carbon spot market pricing from a year ago,” said Roger K. Newport, Chief Executive Officer. “This reflects our strategy to focus on value-added products with fixed-price contracts and to deemphasize sales to the volatile commodity spot market.”
As for an outlook, AK Steel said in a statement that based on the change in hot-rolled carbon spot market pricing from approximately $690 per ton in April to about $555 per ton, the company is updating its annual guidance. The company’s annual guidance had indicated that for every $10 change in the carbon hot-rolled coil spot market price, annual earnings would be impacted by $5 to $7 million. Accordingly, the company now expects net income to be in the range of $41 to $61 million for 2019. Excluding the impact of the Ashland Works closure, adjusted net income is expected to be in the range of $118 to $138 million.