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U.S. Steel Corp. plummeted after the nation's second-biggest producer said it's speeding up plant upgrades to resolve shortcomings that choked earnings even as prices of the metal surged.

The Pittsburgh-based company's shares lost as much as 26 percent on Wednesday, the biggest intraday drop since at least 1991 when Bloomberg records begin. The stock extended declines before the start of regular trading as Chief Executive Officer Mario Longhi tried to defend his strategy on a conference call with analysts.

Longhi is paying the price of frugality at the company's blast furnaces in previous years after metal prices plunged amid a flood of cheap Chinese imports, forcing producers to defend margins. The investment backlog means he's now unable to reap the rewards of a price recovery spurred by government restrictions on imports.

In an earnings report released after the bell Tuesday, U.S. Steel posted adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization of $74 million, falling short of all nine analyst estimates.

"We have made the strategic decision to accelerate our efforts to resolve the issues that challenge our ability to achieve sustainable long-term profitability," Longhi said. That asset revitalization plan, which is part of the so-called Carnegie Way efficiency model, will take three to four years, he said.

The results, in which the company also cut its annual Ebitda forecast to $1.1 billion from $1.3 billion, were described by Jefferies analyst Seth Rosenfeld as "abysmal" and driven by "operational issues and a myriad of other headwinds."

While management's plans may be the best long-term strategy, "the disruption caused by these efforts will ultimately cap U.S. Steel's ability to participate in currently favorable markets," Rosenfeld said.

U.S. Steel shares quadrupled last year as domestic steel prices recovered just as its costs declined after a series of cutbacks undertaken in an efficiency program named after founder Andrew Carnegie. This year, the stock is down about 30 percent.

The average price of U.S. hot-rolled steel coil, a benchmark product used in everything from bridges to microwaves, rose 55 percent in the first quarter from a year earlier, helped by successful U.S. trade cases against imports.