Ahead Of The Bell: Olympic Steel Estimate Cut

HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) — An analyst cut her estimates for Olympic Steel Inc. Wednesday after the steelmaker said it will write down the value of its inventory to cut costs.

The forecast reduction comes a day after Olympic Steel announced it expected to record an inventory write-down of $30 million as of March 31.

Analyst Yvonne M. Varano of Jefferies & Co. Inc. slashed her first-quarter estimate to a loss of 45 cents per share from a profit of a penny per share. She cut her second-quarter profit forecast to 8 cents per share from 15 cents per share, and reduced her full-year profit estimate to 25 cents per share from 95 cents per share. ...