Boeing steel provider Allegheny net falls on lower stainless-steel demand

Allegheny Technologies Inc., the specialty-metals company that supplies titanium to Boeing Co., said fourth-quarter profit fell 8.7 percent as demand for stainless steel declined.

Net income fell to $148.9 million, or $1.45 a share, from $163.1 million, or $1.59, a year earlier, Pittsburgh-based Allegheny Technologies said today in a statement. Sales declined 8.8 percent to $1.27 billion, the company said.

Allegheny is trying to combat slowing demand for stainless steel brought on by higher prices for nickel, a key raw material. The lower stainless-steel demand is eroding the benefit of increasing orders for the company's specialty metals, such as the titanium used in Boeing's jet engines.

Allegheny rose 53 cents, or 0.8 percent, to $68.09 in New York Stock Exchange composite trading yesterday. The shares have declined 26 percent in the past year.