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U.S. Steel misses by $0.13, U.S. Steel profit falls 35 percent
U.S. Steel Corp (X.N) said on Tuesday third-quarter profit fell 35 percent because of weaker tubular steel prices and declines in European shipments, and said its fourth-quarter earnings would be even lower.

Net earnings were $269 million, or $2.27 per share, compared with $417 million, or $3.42 per share, a year earlier, the Pittsburgh-based steelmaker said.

Excluding one-time items, earnings were $2.50 per share, falling short of the average analysts' forecast of $2.63 per share.

In July, after second-quarter results fell 25 percent on lower shipments and tubular steel prices, Chairman and Chief Executive John Surma said he expected operating results to improve in the third quarter.

Income from operations fell to $360 million in the quarter from $561 million a year earlier.

Net sales rose to $4.35 billion from $4.11 billion.

The decrease in European operating results to $152 million from $219 million last year was primarily due to lower shipments from outages, higher raw material and unit costs.

Tubular steel profits fell to $74 million from $164 million due mainly to lower prices and the cost of integrating operations from the Lone Star acquisition.

The company expects overall earnings to decline in the fourth quarter because of normal seasonal effects and several scheduled blast furnace outages.

Fourth-quarter results for tubular are expected to be consistent with the third-quarter levels.
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