Insteel Industries, Inc. announced financial results for its third quarter ended June 30, 2018. Net earnings for the third quarter of fiscal 2018 increased to $12.9 million from $6.9 million in the same period a year ago. Insteel's third-quarter results were favorably impacted by higher shipments and spreads between selling prices and raw material costs and a lower effective tax rate relative to the prior year quarter.
Net sales increased 30.7 percent to $126.7 million from $96.9 million in the prior year quarter driven by a 16.5 percent increase in shipments and a 12.2 percent increase in average selling prices.
On a sequential basis, shipments increased 5.3 percent from the second quarter of fiscal 2018 while average selling prices increased 12.0 percent.
"Looking ahead, we are encouraged by the recent favorable demand trends in our markets and strengthening in construction activity, which is expected to continue," commented H.O. Woltz III, Insteel's president and CEO. "Business conditions will remain challenging, however, as we contend with rising cost pressures and supply constraints resulting from the imposition of the Section 232 tariffs on imported steel and the impact of recent trade cases initiated by domestic wire rod producers. We will continue to maintain commercial discipline in recovering these additional costs in our markets and intensify our ongoing process improvement initiatives across our operations."