Universal Stainless & Alloy Products Inc. is seeing business pick up, albeit slowly, as signs continue to develop that the U.S. economy is emerging from a year-long downturn.

"We have seen a stabilization and an improvement in our incoming business in our third quarter," Dennis Oates, the Bridgeville, Pa.-based company's president and chief executive officer, told analysts during a presentation at the Davenport Metals and Mining Conference in New York. "We're seeing some slight improvement here as we move through the fourth quarter."

Improvements are coming particularly in aerospace, which as Universal's largest market accounts...