AK Steel Holding Corp. took a beating on Wall Street on Tuesday after the steelmaker announced it will record a higher-than-expected net loss for the current quarter and is experiencing pricing problems.

The stock fell 17.6 percent to $4.50 on Tuesday after AK said it expects to lose 67 to 72 cents per share during the fourth quarter. About half of that loss will come from a $35 mllion income tax charge the company plans to take.

Analysts surveyed before Tuesday were anticipating a loss of 17 to 22 cents a share.

The West Chester Twp.-based company — one of the Miami Valley’s largest employers — said it expects its steel shipments to reach up to 1.4 million tons in the quarter, compared with 1.36 million tons in the third quarter. But AK also said it expects average selling prices for all products to decline by about 5 percent from its average selling price of $1,073 per ton for the third quarter.

Longtime steel industry analyst Charles Bradford of New York City’s Bradford Research said AK is not “in an ideal place compared to other steel companies when it comes to raw materials,” Bradford said. “They have not had raw materials of their own” in recent years.

Bradford said AK pays about $200 a ton for iron ore, a key ingredient in steelmaking, compared to U.S. Steel Corp., which pays some $80 a ton. U.S. Steel has long owned its own mines, Bradford said.

Next year, AK should secure a more reliable supply of iron ore from Minnesota through a joint venture with a private company, Magnetation Inc., Bradford said. The latter company recovers “old iron ore dumps,” but it will take time for that supply to kick in, he said.

The U.S. steel industry’s operating rate has been running at about 70 percent of capacity due to an economy “that isn’t very strong,” Bradford said. One of the biggest markets for steel is non-residential construction, and that market is not booming, he said.

While stainless steel for auto exhausts — which AK produces — is doing well, electrical steel used in transformers is down, Bradford said. “People aren’t building new (residential) subdivisions these days,” he said.

Added Bradford: “The key is going to be the economy. The steel industry is a cyclical business.”

AK also announced that it will offer 25 million shares of its common stock. Bradford said the issuing will help AK raise equity, but will also dilute the value of shares currently in circulation.

An AK spokesman said he could not comment at length while the company is issuing new securities. Proceeds from the offerings will be used to “repay borrowings under the company’s revolving credit facility and for general corporate purposes,” said spokesman Barry Racey.

Moody’s Investors Service later on Tuesday cut its corporate rating on AK Steel one notch deeper into “junk” territory, to “B2” from “B1,” citing tough conditions in the steel industry. It has a negative outlook on the rating, meaning Moody’s could cut it again.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.