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Reliance Upgrades Second-Quarter Outlook
06/25/2008 - Reliance Steel & Aluminum increases earnings guidance for the second quarter ended June 30, 2008 to an expected earnings range of $2.00 to $2.10 per diluted share.
Reliance Steel & Aluminum Co. is increasing its earnings guidance for the second quarter ended June 30, 2008, saying that it now expects earnings for the period to be in the range of $2.00 to $2.10 per diluted share.
The company’s new earnings expectations reflect an increase of approximately 30% from prior guidance. The current mean of the Wall Street analysts’ earnings estimates for Reliance’s 2008 second quarter is $1.63 per diluted share.
“In our April 17, 2008 first-quarter press release, we included an estimate for our 2008 second-quarter earnings of $1.50 to $1.60 per diluted share,” said Reliance Chairman and CEO, David H. Hannah. “Because the prices for carbon steel products have increased more significantly and more rapidly than we had anticipated and because we have been successful in expanding our gross profit margins more than anticipated in the current environment, we have increased our earnings guidance.
“The updated guidance includes a LIFO estimate of $100 million for the year, up from our prior estimate of $70 million,” added Hannah. “This results in a second-quarter LIFO expense of $32.5 million compared to $17.5 million included in our prior guidance. As a result, we have updated our earnings guidance to reflect our current expectations.”
The company said it will announce its financial results for the three and six months ended June 30, 2008 on Thursday, July 17, 2008.
Headquartered in Los Angeles, Calif., Reliance Steel & Aluminum Co. is the largest metals service center company in the United States. Through a network of more than 180 locations in 37 states and Belgium, Canada, China, South Korea and the United Kingdom, the company provides value-added metals processing services and distributes a full line of over 100,000 metal products. Products include galvanized, hot-rolled and cold-finished steel; stainless steel; aluminum; brass; copper; titanium and alloy steel sold to more than 125,000 customers in various industries.
Reliance Steel & Aluminum was named to the 2007 “Fortune 500” List; the Fortune 2007 “100 Fastest Growing Companies” List; the Fortune 2008 List of “America’s Most Admired Companies”; the 2008 Forbes “America’s Best Managed Companies” List; and the 2008 Forbes “Platinum 400 List of America’s Best Big Companies.”
