Tronox declines to all-time low

Shares slipped 3 cents, or 1.4 percent, to close at $2.19, after bottoming at $1.77--an all-time low.

Earlier this month, Tronox said it will boost prices for all of its titanium dioxide grades sold in Mexico and Latin America, in addition to price increases already revealed in January and June, to offset higher freight, energy and other raw-material costs.

Debbie Schramm, a spokeswoman for Tronox, said the company is continuing with efforts to cut back on expenses and plans to reduce costs by $100 million by year-end.

Lehman Brothers analyst Sergey Vasnetsov downgraded the stock to "Underweight" from "Equal Weight" and cut his price target to $2 from $4 because of weakness in the housing and auto markets, along with higher energy costs.

Vasnetsov's new price target implies downside of 9.9 percent from Monday's closing price of $2.22.

"Continued market declines within U.S. housing related markets ... are clearly reducing overall titanium dioxide demand and making it difficult for Tronox and the other producers to effectively pass price increases along to their customers," Vasnetsov wrote in a client note.