U.S. Steel Corp., America's largest steelmaker by market value, climbed the most in seven years in New York trading after second-quarter profit more than doubled, beating analysts' estimates.

U.S. Steel rose $20.43, or 14 percent, to $165.76 at 4:15 p.m. on the New York Stock Exchange, the biggest one-day gain since April 24, 2001. The Pittsburgh-based company's shares have advanced 37 percent this year.

Net Income increased to $668 million, or $5.65 a share, from $302 million, or $2.54, a year earlier, the company said today in a statement. Excluding some one-time items, per-share profit was $5.67, topping the $3.82 average estimate of 14 analysts in a Bloomberg survey. Sales rose 60 percent to a quarterly record of $6.74 billion.

"These are blow-out results," UBS Securities Inc. analyst Timna Tanners, who rates U.S. Steel a "buy," said in a telephone interview from New York. "Every metric that we looked at, we were surprised on the upside."

Chief Executive Officer John Surma increased profit after steel prices rose to an all-time high of $1,052 a ton in June. The company also controls about 80 percent of its iron-ore supplies, shielding it from record costs for the key ingredient in the metal.

Higher Prices

U.S.-based steelmakers are raising prices after imports fell because of a weak dollar. Shipments of steel to the U.S. declined 11 percent in the first five months of the year to 12 million metric tons from a year earlier, according to the U.S. Commerce Department.

Global steel prices have increased as developing economies such as China, India and Brazil build more bridges, roads and skyscrapers and producers try to pass along the rising costs of iron ore and coal. The steel-sheet record in the U.S. in June was about double the $532 a ton price a year earlier, according to Purchasing magazine.

"The company is realizing benefits of enhanced pricing more quickly than expected," Keybanc Capital Markets analyst Mark Parr, who rates U.S. Steel a "buy," said in a telephone interview from Cleveland. "All operating segments were better than expected."

U.S. Steel, which can produce about 27 million tons of the metal a year, has three main units: North American flat-rolled steel; Europe, where it supplies central and Western Europe from mills in Serbia and Slovakia; and tubular products, which sells metal to the oil industry for pipelines.

Profit by Unit

Profit in the flat-rolled unit climbed more than fivefold to $478 million, the company said. Earnings at U.S. Steel Europe increased 22 percent to $298 million, while profit from the tubular business rose 82 percent to $177 million.

U.S. Steel said it expects results from sales of flat-rolled steel to ``improve substantially'' in the third quarter and for profit from the tubular unit to rise as prices increase. Third- quarter earnings from the European unit will decrease because of higher raw-material costs and planned maintenance, the company said.

"We expect another excellent quarter with continued earnings improvement as price increases implemented during the second quarter and early in the third quarter are expected to improve average realized prices for each of our reportable segments," Surma said in the statement.

'Strong Buy'

Standard & Poor's metals and mining equity analyst Leo Larkin boosted his rating on U.S. Steel shares to a "strong buy" from "buy" and raised his 2008 full-year per-share earnings estimate by 53 percent to $18.58. Fifteen analysts in the Bloomberg survey had estimated 2008 profit excluding some items will be $16.32 a share.

"Into 2010, we think U.S. Steel will have some cost pressure, but for the near future this is not a big cost-pressure story," UBS's Tanners said.

U.S. Steel raised its quarterly dividend 20 percent to 30 cents a share. The dividend is payable Sept. 10 to stockholders of record at the close of trading on Aug. 13, the company said in a separate statement.

(Source: Bloomberg)

A historic hotel landmark, a great cathedral reminiscent of the Middle Ages and a private guesthouse in New York’s Adirondack State Forest are among the architectural projects honored by the copper industry for their innovative use of copper and copper alloys.

The Copper Development Association, in collaboration with the Canadian Copper & Brass Development Association, has announced the recipients of the North American Copper in Architecture Awards program. 

Projects were selected from two categories, Historic Restoration and New Construction.
The awardees for Historic Restoration include:

——The Plaza Hotel, New York, N.Y.; James R. Gainfort Consulting Architects; Nicholson & Galloway; Eagle One Roofing

——La basilique Notre-Dame de Montreal, Montréal, Quebéc; Architects Faucher Aubertin Brodeur Gauthier; Les couvertures St- Léonard, Inc. (contractor)

——Library of Parliament, Ottawa, Ontario; Ogilvie & Hogg; Les Architectes Desnoyers Mercure & Associés; Spencer R. Higgens, Architect Incorporated; Heather & Little Limited
The awardees for New Construction include:

——Stuckeman Family Building, Penn State University, The School of Architecture & Landscape Architecture; Penn State University, University Park, Penn.; WTW Architects; Overland Partners Architects

(Photos courtesy of the Copper Development Association)

——Canadian War Museum, Ottawa, Ontario; Moriyama & Teshima Architects; Griffith Rankin Cook Architects; Flynn Canada, Ltd.;

——Inverted Guest House, Lake George, N.Y.; Peter L. Gluck & Partners
Members of CDA’s and CCBDA’s Building Construction Architectural Team judged the projects. Nearly 50 projects were recommended and approved.

“We had so many great projects to choose from throughout North America,” says Andy Kireta Jr., CDA’s vice president for building construction markets. “The hardest part was choosing the top three projects in each category. At the heart of this program is the fact that copper remains an attractive, durable and recognizable material in the building industry, whether it’s used for historic renovation or new construction.”