AK Steel Downgraded from Buy

We expect AK Steel's (AKS - Analyst Report) cost reduction efforts to prevent excessive margin deterioration in light of higher commodity costs. The company has greater product diversification compared to its peers and is focusing on markets and products which have the greatest long-term potential to succeed.

AK Steel has a sound liquidity position with no significant debt maturities in the near term. However, the company's competitive position, compared to other steel companies, is undermined by its legacy costs.

Hence, we reiterate our Hold recommendation on the stock with a six-month target price of $6.00. This is 30.0x our 2009 EPS estimate.