So what: AK Steel delivered a surprise profit, announcing that it earned $0.08 per share, which was well ahead of the $0.02 per-share loss that analysts were expecting. According to CEO Roger Newport, driving AK Steel's strong showing was its "strategic decision to reduce exposure to commodity spot markets, optimize our footprint and focus on higher value products." In fact, shipments of value coated products increased to 53% of total shipments, up from 45% in the year-ago quarter. That said, total shipments slumped 14% year over year, to 1.55 tons.