Wyomissing, Pennsylvania-based Carpenter Technology Corporation, a producer and distributor of specialty steel products, announced Wednesday that it expects net sales, excluding surcharge, of $431 million for its fiscal Q2 ended December 31, 2012. This compares to $441 million reported in fiscal Q1 2013, and is 30 percent higher than Q2 fiscal year 2012. Carpenter said that the company continued to see strong demand for its Premium and Ultra-Premium products sold into the Aerospace and Energy markets, but saw weaker demand in lower value product lines, which were impacted by current economic uncertainty.
Carpenter now expects Q2 earnings per diluted share to be approximately $0.61 to $0.62, which is about 20 percent higher than the prior fiscal second quarter, but below the $0.74 per diluted share reported in Q1 of fiscal 2013. The earnings increase versus Q2 2012 was driven primarily by the acquisition of Latrobe Specialty Steel, which is delivering higher than expected synergies, and improved overall pricing/mix actions. The sequential reduction in earnings versus Q1 2013 is due to weaker Performance Engineered Products (PEP) segment performance, softer demand for lower value mill products, and the impact of production balancing within Specialty Alloys Operations (SAO).