U.S. Steel to Idle 2 Facilities - Analyst Blog

U.S. Steel Corporation X announced that it will indefinitely shut two tubular manufacturing facilities located in McKeesport, PA, and Bellville, TX as unfairly traded tubular products imported into the U.S. affected the business conditions.  

The two facilities employ about 260 employees -- 45 professional and management members and 215 union members. Workers at the facilities have been advised of the closures scheduled for early August and notices have been issued under the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) Act.

U.S. Steel remains committed to the tubular products business and to serving its tubular customers and has taken this decision so that the company can return to sustainable profitability.

U.S. Steel along with other U.S. manufacturers, has filed anti-dumping actions with the U.S. Department of Commerce on unfair trading and dumping of foreign Oil Country Tubular Goods (OCTG) into the U.S. market.

In Apr 2014, U.S. Steel released its first-quarter 2014 results. The company swung to a profit in the quarter as it benefited from its cost improvement actions under the Carnegie Way initiative and higher pricing that offset headwinds from harsh weather.

Net income for the reported quarter was $52 million or 34 cents per share compared with a net loss of $73 million or 51 cents per share recorded in the year-ago quarter. However, it missed the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 37 cents.

Revenues for the first quarter fell roughly 3.2% year over year to $4,488 million, also missing the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $4,583 million. Shipments for the reported quarter was 5.1 million, down from 5.5 million recorded a year ago, impacted by bad weather conditions.

U.S. Steel currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).

Other players in the steel industry worth considering are Universal Stainless & Alloy Products Inc. USAP, NN Inc. NNBR and ThyssenKrupp AG (TYEKF). While Universal Stainless and NN carry a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), ThyssenKrupp holds a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).