Ak Steel Holding Corporation (NYSE:AKS)

AK Steel said it expects shipments for the third quarter of 2009 to be approximately 940,000 tons, reflecting an increase of nearly 27% over second-quarter 2009 shipments. The company anticipates that its average per-ton selling price will be approximately equivalent to the second quarter of 2009 level. The company expects planned maintenance costs to be approximately $6 million lower compared to the second quarter, primarily the result of the completion in early July of the planned blast furnace maintenance outage at the Middletown Works. AK Steel expects to benefit from lower operating and raw material costs in the third quarter compared to the second quarter. The company expects to achieve an approximate breakeven in operating profit, which would represent an improvement of about $70 million, or about $100 per ton, over second-quarter results.

Source: PR Newswire (July 21, 2009)

"General Motors has announced plans to idle more than half of its North American plants for up to nine weeks starting in mid-May. In addition, Chrysler LLC (“Chrysler”) has filed a bankruptcy petition and announced that it will idle all of its plants until the proposed sale of Chrysler’s principal assets to a new company is completed."

"Those actions by General Motors and Chrysler likely will negatively impact not only the Company’s direct shipments to them during the second quarter, but also its sales to other customers of the Company who likewise supply General Motors and Chrysler."

"The recent action by General Motors and Chrysler also likely will negatively impact the Company’s financial performance as a result of both lost margin and cost impact. However, despite that negative impact, the Company continues to expect improved second quarter financial results as compared to the first quarter of 2009, though less improved than was expected as of the time of the Company’s conference call on April 21, 2009."

Source: SEC Form 10Q (For the quarterly period ended March 31, 2009, page 27)

Guidance Report: (Non-China)

While noting that the economic situation remains uncertain, AK Steel said it expects shipments in the first quarter of 2009 to be in a range between 850,000 and 900,000 tons. The company said it will take advantage of the economic downturn to temporarily idle its Middletown blast furnace, beginning early in March, to perform extensive maintenance, which is expected to take about 45 days. Considering these factors, the company said it expects to experience a significant operating loss for the first quarter of 2009.

However, the company said it expects shipments in the second quarter of 2009 to improve, and, coupled with lower raw material costs compared to the first quarter of 2009, the company expects to generate a modest operating profit for the second quarter of 2009.

Source: PR Newswire (January 27, 2009)