NEW YORK, NY / ACCESSWIRE / March 14, 2018 / Shares of steel companies United States Steel Corp. and AK Steel Holding Corp. went into the red on Tuesday. While the latter didn't have any significant news, it was the former that received a downgrade and price target slash from a Vertical Group analyst.

RDI Initiates Coverage on:

United States Steel Corporation
https://rdinvesting.com/news/?ticker=X

AK Steel Holding Corporation
https://rdinvesting.com/news/?ticker=AKS

United States Steel Corporation shares were deep in the red on Tuesday, closing the day down 7.64% on nearly 23 million shares traded. The big drop came after analyst Gordon Johnson of Vertical Group downgraded the stock from "hold" to "sell" and lowered his price target from $41 to $23. According to Johnson, while the company raised its cash-flow guidance for 2018, it would have been cut if President Trump did not announce the steel tariffs. Johnson even said that the company had some of "the most inefficient mills in the country, and that America should be looking to cut capacity." It was also earlier this month that BofA Merrill Lynch analyst downgraded the stock as well. J.P. Morgan however raised their price target to $69 from $48. In other news, United States Steel Corporation announced the pricing of its $650 million of 6.250% Senior Notes due 2026.

Access RDI's United States Steel Corporation Research Report at:
https://rdinvesting.com/news/?ticker=X

AK Steel Holding Corporation shares closed down 3.17% on nearly 14 million shares traded on Tuesday. There was no remarkable news from the company but it may have been feeling the heat after another company in the industry, United States Steel Corporation, was given a downgrade. Recently AK Steel Holding Corp. said it strongly supports President Trump's announcement to put a 25% tariff on steel products imported in the U.S. The company's CEO Roger K. Newport remarked, "We thank the President and his Administration, on behalf of AK Steel and our many thousands of employees, for identifying and understanding the unfair trade practices that have plagued the domestic steel industry for decades, and for having the vision and fortitude to take meaningful action to address them." He also said, "We support President Trump for taking the bold action of imposing a 25% global tariff on steel to defend America's steel industry and its workers from imports that threaten our national and economic security. Nowhere is this threat more evident than in electrical steel where AK Steel is now the only domestic producer of electrical steel for electrical transformers. Years of surging imports and the subsequent market volatility caused the only other U.S. producer to exit the market in 2016. This action by the President could not come soon enough as the surge of electrical steel imports continued throughout last year, with imports nearly doubling in 2017 when compared to 2016."

Access RDI's AK Steel Holding Corporation Research Report at:
https://rdinvesting.com/news/?ticker=AKS

Our Actionable Research on United States Steel Corporation (NYSE: X) and AK Steel Holding Corporation (NYSE: AKS) and can be downloaded free of charge at Research Driven Investing.

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