U.S. Steel Posts Loss, Warns Of Tough Business Conditions; Stock Down 7%

(RTTNews) - U.S. Steel Corp (X) on Tuesday reported first-quarter net loss of $75 million or $0.52 per share compared with a profit of $52 million or $0.34 per share last year.

Results for the quarter included a loss of $65 million, or $0.45 per, on the shutdown of coke production facilities.

Excluding items, adjusted loss for the quarter was $0.07 per share.

Revenues for the quarter were $3.27 billion compared with $4.45 billion in the prior year.

Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters estimated earnings of $0.12 per share on revenues of $3.43 billion for the quarter. Analysts' estimates typically exclude special items.

"Our results reflect extremely challenging market conditions, including the negative impact of the tremendously high levels of imports, which have contributed to reduced volumes and average realized prices," said CEO Mario Longhi.

Commenting on the company's outlook for 2015, Longhi said, "We are currently operating in the face of extremely difficult conditions, particularly in North America."

"We have taken aggressive actions to reduce costs and adjust our operating levels in the near term but cannot fully offset these increased headwinds".

X closed Tuesday at $26.78, up $0.52 or 1.98%, on a volume of 11.5 million shares on the NYSE. In after hours, the stock dropped $1.90 or 7.09% at $24.88.