U.S. Steel (X) CEO Mario Longhi has taken the company back to its roots with his “Carnegie Way” strategy, after the company’s founder, Andrew Carnegie. The strategy focuses on creating shareholder value through sustainable profits.

So far, the results have been pretty good, as seen with the recent earnings report. In today’s trading, X stock is up roughly 9%. In fact, U.S. Steel stock has actually gained about 40% for the year, compared to a -26% decline for rival ArcelorMittal (MT) and a 9% drop for AK Steel (AKS).

During the past few months, U.S. Steel was actually providing investors with strong hints that Q3 would be solid. The most notable announcement came in July when the company indicated that there would be a significant increase in profits. U.S. Steel also noted that the domestic steel market was getting back to normal.

OK, so what actually happened in Q3? Well, revenues saw a nice increase of 11% to $4.59 billion and earnings came to $2.16 per share (adjusting for one-time items). The Street was looking for revenues of $4.56 billion and earnings of $1.17 per share, setting up U.S. Steel for its fifth consecutive beat.

Cash flows were also impressive. During the past twelve months, the company generated $1.2 billion in operating cash flows, up from $421 million for the same period a year ago. With the money, U.S. Steel has been paring down debt. In fact, the net debt position is now at $2.2 billion, which is down by $1.1 billion since the end of 2013.

U.S. Steel Making Smart Business Moves

No doubt, a key part of the Carnegie Way is a disciplined focus on cost cutting and efficiencies. To this end, U.S. Steel has made strides with its supply chain, procurement, manufacturing processes and ERP (enterprise resource planning) software system.

More importantly, U.S. Steel has also shown it can make tough decisions, as seen with the recent filing of bankruptcy for its Canadian unit. The business lost money for five years — and showed no signs of improvement.

Yes, the company “Carnegie Way” is more than just a slogan. It’s something that U.S. Steel will back up with disciplined actions.

In the meantime, the company is getting a lift from the strength in the economy, especially in the U.S., where auto sales remain brisk as does construction spending.

However, this doesn’t mean you should rush to buy X stock. Keep in mind that volatility has been intense lately. During the recent market correction, X stock plunged from $46 to $32 — a drop of 30%!

So, after the recent snapback rally, there will likely be some profit-taking. In other words, it’s probably best to wait. But on a pullback, X stock does look like an attractive way to play the resurgence in the U.S. steel industry.

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Tom Taulli runs the InvestorPlace blog IPO Playbook. He is also the author of High-Profit IPO Strategies, All About Commodities and All About Short Selling. Follow him on Twitter at @ttaulli. As of this writing, he did not hold a position in any of the aforementioned securities.