AK Steel Corporation AKS announced that it is raising current spot market base prices for all carbon flat-rolled steel products. The steel maker is increasing the prices of these products by a minimum of $40 per ton. The hike is effective immediately with new orders.

Price

AK Steel’s share price has gained 114.48% versus the Zacks categorized steel industry rate of 32.79% in the past three months. AK Steel’s third-quarter 2016 earnings beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate.

AK Steel is likely to benefit from the strength in the automotive market and higher shipments of carbon steel products to automakers in 2016. The company is currently developing third-generation, advanced high-strength carbon steels for its automotive customers that are considerably stronger than current product offerings.

In third-quarter 2016, AK Steel launched Nexmet, an innovative product range of high-strength steel for use in automotive lightweighting applications.  The products are anticipated to greatly benefit automotive manufacturers and reinstate the company’s focus on innovation and technology for product development. The company expects solid demand for its carbon and stainless steel products from its automotive customers to continue in the balance of 2016.

AK Steel also remains committed to provide competitive pricing in the current operating environment. Price increases in the spot market for various steel products have been observed of late. The company should also benefit from its cost-reduction actions.

AK Steel currently carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).

Other Stocks to Consider

Other well-placed companies in the basic materials space include Innophos Holdings Inc IPHS, FMC Corp. FMC and Celanese Corp. CE.

Innophos sports a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy). The company has an expected earnings growth of 51.4% for the current year.

FMC has an expected earnings growth of around 14.1% for the current year. The stock also sports a Zacks Rank #1. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

Celanese carries a Zacks Rank #2 and has an expected earnings growth of around 9.4% for the current year.

AK STEEL HLDG Price

AK STEEL HLDG Price | AK STEEL HLDG Quote

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