US Steel becomes third in industry to miss earnings estimates

Pittsburgh: US Steel Corp said it expects to report a wider loss than analysts were expecting, the third American steelmaker in three days to warn on their outlook. The shares fell.

The Pittsburgh-based company cited a December fire at its Clairton coke-making facility and restructuring charges. It expects a loss of 35 cents a shares for this quarter, compared with a 6-cent loss that was the average estimate of analysts, the company said in a statement Wednesday.

On Monday, Nucor Corp, the largest US steelmaker, fell after saying its profit waned in the third quarter as prices decreased amid softening in several end markets. On Tuesday, Steel Dynamics Inc said profit would fall short of estimates. The shares plunged 8 per cent in after-hours trading.

“This speaks to the emerging weakness in the energy sector in US, it speaks to pervasive weakness in Europe as well,” Phil Gibbs, an analyst at Keybanc Capital Markets, said in a telephone interview. “They’re not getting help anywhere right now.”

Steelmakers raised some prices earlier this quarter, but buyers have been slow to accept the increases, underscoring fading optimism more than a year after the introduction of US tariffs meant to bolster the industry.

US Steel also said it’s more almost three-quarters of the way toward its goal of reducing its European workforce by 2,500 by the end of 2021. The company has eliminated 1,800 jobs in that region, according to the statement.

The company expects third-quarter 2019 adjusted EBITDA to be about $115 million, which excludes approximately $53 million of estimated impacts from the fire.