AK Steel's AK Tube Plants Wins Safety Recognition - Analyst Blog

Steelmaker AK Steel's AKS subsidiary AK Tube LLC has received the “Safety Award of Merit" from the Fabricators and Manufacturers Association, International (FMA) for exceptional safety performance of its Columbus, IN and Walbridge, OH facilities.

Founded in 1970, FMA is a leading trade organization that serves the metal forming and fabricating industry. It which has more than 2,000 individual and company members working together, for it brings metal fabricators and manufacturers together through technology councils, educational programs, networking events, and the FABTECH International /American Welding Society (AWS) Welding Show.

At the Columbus facility, the total Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) recordable injury rate of 0.79 in 2013 was nearly 8 times better than the rolled steel shape manufacturing industry average. This is the fourth time that the Columbus plant has been awarded with the “Safety Award of Merit” by FMA. The Columbus facility is also a three-time recipient of FMA's "Safety Award of Honor". This plant is also a certified Star site in the Indiana Department of Labor's Voluntary Protection Program.  

This is for the fifth time that the Walbridge plant has been awarded with the “Safety Award of Merit" by FMA and it is also Occupational Health and Safety Assessment Series (OHSAS) 18001 certified.

Columbus and Walbridge plants' combined safety performance was about five times better than the rolled steel shape manufacturing industry average for 2013.

On Apr 22, AK Steel posted its first-quarter 2014 results. The company's net loss of $86.1 million or 63 cents per share in the reported quarter compared with the loss of $9.9 million or 7 cents per share in the year-ago quarter. The results were affected by a planned and an unplanned blast furnace outage, higher energy costs due to bad weather and a legal settlement.

In the reported quarter, AK Steel recorded a non-cash income tax charge of $31.7 million or 23 cents per share, relating to a change in its deferred tax asset valuation allowance. Barring non-cash income tax charge, AK Steel's loss for the quarter was 40 cents per share, narrower than the Zacks Consensus Estimate of a loss of 43 cents.

Revenues rose 1% year over year to $1,383.5 million in the reported quarter but missed the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $1,420 million.

AK Steel currently has a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).

Other stocks in the steel industry with favorable Zacks Rank are Companhia Siderurgica Nacional SID, Gerdau S.A. GGB and ThyssenKrupp AG (TYEKF). While Companhia Siderurgica carries a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), Gerdau and ThyssenKrupp hold a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).