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NEW YORK (AP) -- Commercial Metals Co., a maker, seller and recycler of steel and other products, said Tuesday its fourth-quarter profit fell 19 percent, partly due to effects from a slow U.S. housing industry and higher costs. Profit fell to $104.7 million, or 86 cents per share, from $128.7 million, or $1.04 per share, in the comparable year-ago period. Revenue rose 6.2 percent to $2.28 billion from $2.15 billion in the year-ago quarter. Analysts were expecting earnings of 92 cents per share on $2.34 billion in sales from the company. Selling, general and administrative costs rose 16 percent to $156.4 million, from $135 million in the year-ago quarter. The current quarter includes a $9.4 million cost related to a software investment. Quarterly taxes fell to 26.6 percent from 30.2 percent in the year-ago period. Adjusted operating profit at the domestic mills segment slowed 30 percent, due to lower production and shipments. Demand for rebar, or rods often used to reinforce concrete, slowed, partly due to the lagging U.S. housing industry. Chief Executive and President Murray R. McClean said in a statement nonresidential domestic construction should drive the company's business in 2008, despite a slumping U.S. housing market and some signs of slowing growth in Europe. Shares sank $4.05, or 11.6 percent, to $30.80 in early trading.
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