U.S. Steel Lifts Earnings Forecast on Mill Restart, Trump Tariff

(Bloomberg) -- U.S. Steel Corp. raised its 2018 earnings outlook as it restarts a furnace and metal prices rise in the wake of President Donald Trump’s order to slap tariffs on steel imports.

The Pittsburgh-based company said it expects earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization of about $1.7 billion due to the Section 232 tariffs decision and increased shipments from its Granite City Works plant in Illinois. In its fourth-quarter earnings report released in January, U.S. Steel forecast 2018 Ebitda at $1.5 billion.

“The company expects the benefits from these actions will be primarily reflected in our results in the second half of the year, as recent price changes become more fully realized for spot and contract volumes, and shipments increase from Granite City Works,” U.S. Steel said in a statement Monday. “The impacts on market conditions from the Section 232 actions will become clearer over the next several months, which may affect our results.”

The announcement was made after the close regular trading in New York. U.S. Steel rose 1.3 percent to $44.12 at 4:29 p.m. The stock is up 24 percent year-to-date through Monday’s close.

To contact the reporter on this story: Joe Deaux in New York at jdeaux@bloomberg.net.

To contact the editors responsible for this story: James Attwood at jattwood3@bloomberg.net, Joe Richter

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