tocks of US Steel Corp increased over 8 percent in after-hours trading Thursday, after the steel giant swung -- albeit temporarily - to a quarterly loss and disclosed it sees better times this year.
But the company is still nursing from a $680 million loss or $4 per share in the fourth quarter, against earnings of $592 million, or $3.34 per share in the previous period.
Analysts polled by FactSet had been projecting the steelmaker to post a $1.03 a share loss, on $2.8 billion revenues.
US Steel and other US-based steel manufacturers initially saw a boost to their sales in the aftermath of taxes slapped on steel imports from China and other regions by US President Donald Trump nearly two years ago.
However, a rush to jack up output following the imposition of the tariffs created an oversupply and weakening steel prices through much of last year.
According to US Steel president and chief executive officer, David Burritt, 2019 was a year of remarkable progress and "we took swift action to reposition the company."
As proof of its demonstrating flexibility, US Steel was able to earn $75 million in run-rate fixed cost reductions, Buritt said, by adjusting the company's 2020 capital spending to prioritize strategic investments and de-risk strategy execution by raising $1.1 billion in capital.
US Steel profits report includes some information about what the company anticipates in the next coming months. That covers an amortization expense of around $150 million, including net interest costs of approximately $95 million. The company's stock rallied 7.9 percent after the markets closed, Thursday.
The first three months of the current fiscal year will be "the trough for the year," US Steel executives said in a statement, as a result of seasonality of the company's mining ventures and lower deliveries in the first quarter.
The company also announced on Thursday that its Board of Directors declared a dividend of $0.01 a share on US Steel Common Stock. The dividend will be payable on March 10 this year to shareholders of record at the close of business on February 10, 2020.
The Pittsburgh, PA-headquartered company is a leading integrated steel producer and Fortune 250 listed companies with major operations in the US and Central Europe.
Meanwhile, US Steel is shutting down its plant near Detroit, rendering more than 1,500 employees jobless, despite Trump's vow that tariffs would boost the steel industry.
The Trump administration is expanding its 25 percent tariff on imported steel to cover additional items like electrical wiring and staples. But the central bank says the initial tariffs actually backfired, hiking costs and forcing employment reductions, sources said.
