By Kelly Cloonan
Shares of Insteel Industries climbed after the company reported higher fiscal second-quarter earnings and said it expects a boost from the Trump administration's expanded steel tariff.
The stock rose 11% to $29.69 on Thursday. Shares have declined 10% over the past 12 months.
The steel-products manufacturer on Thursday posted a profit of $10.2 million, or 52 cents a share, for the three months ended March 29, compared with $6.9 million, or 35 cents a share, a year earlier.
Revenue rose to $160.7 million compared with $127.4 million a year earlier.
The higher results come amid improving business conditions and rising customer confidence, which are not fully reflected in broader measures of strength in the construction industry, Chief Executive H.O. Woltz III said. Woltz expects such trends to continue into the summer and fall.
He added that the Trump administration's recent expansion of the Section 232 steel tariff to derivative products is a positive for the company, as it reduces competition from low-priced imports of prestressed-concrete steel strands into the U.S. market, even as costs rise amid tariffs on shipments from Canada and Mexico.
Write to Kelly Cloonan at kelly.cloonan@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
April 17, 2025 10:58 ET (14:58 GMT)
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