Better Late Than Never: US Steel Q3 Report Meets Expectations

United States Steel CorporationXearnings report, but it was worth the wait. Historically, the steel company releases its results at around 4:18 pm ET. Technical difficulties Tuesday forced the company to delay the release until 5:49 pm ET. Expectation heading into the earnings print was quite low after AK Steel Holding Corporation AKS's poor earnings report sent the stock tumbling lower by more than 20 percent. Also, Axiom's Gordon Johnson said in a research report that U.S. Steel's earnings report would be accompanied with a major EBITDA guidance cut of 25 percent.

As such, some investors were caught off guard when U.S. Steel's earnings report was reported in line with expectations and just a 3-percent reduction to its 2017 EBITDA guidance.

U.S. Steel's reported $342 million EBITDA was in-line with what KeyBanc Capital Markets' Philip Gibbs was modeling and just shy of the Street's $343 million estimate, the analyst wrote. The company benefited from a lower cost in flat-rolled but was offset by weaker results in all other segments. The company guided its 2017 EBITDA lower from $1.11 billion to $1.075 billion due to lower U.S. sheet prices.

The revised guidance also includes $275 million of full-year accounting change benefits from expense capitalization benefits that were detailed in a 10-Q following the second quarter results. This may have been an aspect of the business that "some may have missed."

Finally, U.S. Steel's stock is seeing a relief rally although the core momentum "appears reasonably in line with our existing expectations at first blush."

At publication, shares of U.S. Steel were up 10.62 percent at $28.01.

AK Steel was up 3.27 percent at $4.74, possibly in sympathy.

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