AK Steel Stock Surges to an All-Time High

By Dave Greber, Dayton Daily News, Ohio

Jan. 24–MIDDLETOWN — AK Steel’s record sales and unadjusted income of more than $34 million for the fourth quarter of 2006 fueled the Middletown-based steelmaker’s stock to an all-time high Tuesday.

James L. Wainscott, AK Steel’s president, chairman and CEO, said for the second consecutive quarter that 2006 was “a defining year.”

It was a year “in which we had to significantly improve our competitiveness in order to keep moving toward our ultimate goal of sustained profitability,” Wainscott said.

AK Steel’s stock Tuesday rose $1.63 to $18.40 in trading on the New York Stock Exchange, an increase of more than 9.7 percent and an all-time high following the company’s stock split.

The stock’s trading volume surpassed the 9 million mark Tuesday, compared to the daily average of just under 2 million shares.

AK Steel experienced a net loss of $49.3 million, or 45 cents per common share of stock, after taking into account an income adjusted by non-cash losses related to the company’s retiree health care benefit plans. That loss accounted for more than $133 million during the final quarter last year.

Without that charge, the company made $34.5 million last quarter. That’s nearly half the adjusted net income of $65.1 million in the fourth quarter 2005, and far less than the $73.7 million adjusted income for the fourth quarter 2004.

The steelmaker reported net losses for the same quarter a year ago of $41.5, or 38 cents per share of common stock. Net sales for the fourth quarter of 2006 were a record nearly $1.6 billion on shipments of 1,520,100 tons. The average selling price during the fourth quarter of 2006 was another record: $1,041 per ton, which reflects a 21 percent increase from the year ago quarter, and allowed an operating profit of $52.3 million, or $34 per ton.

The company incurred more than $60 million in losses in 2006 as a result of the lockout of more than 1,800 members of its hourly work force union in Middletown.

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