AK Steel Ends String Of Losses With 3Q Profit

DANIEL LOVERING

PITTSBURGH (AP) — AK Steel Holding Corp. posted a sharply lower third-quarter profit Tuesday compared with a year ago, but nonetheless broke a string of three consecutive quarterly losses and said it expects shipments to pick up in the final months of the year.

AK Steel is a supplier to the U.S. auto industry. Automakers ramped up production in recent months in response to the government's wildly successful Cash for Clunkers program.

Like other steel companies, AK Steel has faced sharply lower demand since late last year, when the economic downturn undermined important steel buyers in the auto and construction industries. That forced AK Steel to lay off workers and idle plants.

But the steel industry has improved in recent months, with prices and production rising during the quarter. Still, the market for the metal used in everything from refrigerators to pickup trucks remained much weaker that it was a year earlier.

Its shares tumbled $1.70, or 9 percent, to $17.09 in afternoon trading.

Analysts say AK Steel — which garnered about a third of its 2008 sales from auto companies — is particularly well-positioned to benefit from an eventual auto industry recovery.