NEW YORK (AP) — Shares of Allegheny Technologies fell Wednesday after the metals maker said lower shipments and prices and higher costs hurt its business in the fourth quarter.
The Pittsburgh company said shipments of some high-value and standard products were low, and so were sales prices for many of its products. It said raw material sales fell but input costs remained high. Allegheny Technologies said business conditions are still challenging in early 2014, but the global economy appears to be improving slowly. The company said it expects business conditions to gradually get better throughout the year.
Allegheny Technologies Inc. shares fell $1.86, or 5.4 percent, to $32.32 in afternoon trading.
The company said its net income climbed to $173.4 million, or $1.62 per share, in the fourth quarter. However that total included a series of large one-time items, including a $428 million gain on the sale of its tungsten materials business and $133 million in restructuring costs and inventory valuation adjustments. Excluding the gain from the tungsten materials sale, Allegheny Technologies said it lost 79 cents per share during the quarter. Excluding both the $428 million gain and the restructuring costs and other items, the company said it lost 8 cents per share. A year ago Allegheny Technologies reported a profit of $10.5 million, or 10 cents per share.
Its revenue fell 10 percent to $915.3 million from $1.02 billion.
Analysts expected a loss of 21 cents per share and $972.9 million in revenue, according to FactSet. The estimates typically exclude one-time items.
Kennametal Inc. bought the tungsten materials business in November for $605 million.
