Alcoa Profit Misses Street, But Sales Beats On Higher Aluminum Prices

(RTTNews) - Alcoa Inc. (AA), the largest producer of aluminum in the US, Tuesday reported fourth-quarter earnings that fell short of Wall Street estimates, despite increase in revenues as alumina and aluminum prices rose.

New York-based Alcoa's fourth-quarter loss was $125 million or $0.68 per share, compared with $826 million or $4.52 per share last year.

Results for the quarter includes $151 million of special items related to the permanent closure of Suralco's refinery and mines in Suriname and the impairment of Alcoa of Australia interests in a Western Australia gas field.

Adjusted earnings for the quarter were $0.14. Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected earnings of $0.19 per share.

Sales for the quarter rose to $2.54 billion from $2.45 billion last year. Analysts had a consensus revenue estimate of $2.46 billion. Growth in revenues were driven by higher aluminum and alumina pricing.

Alcoa last year separated into two independent, publicly-traded companies Arconic Inc and Alcoa Corp, a higher-margin manufacturing operations and a smelting and refining business.

"Alcoa's first reporting period as a new, standalone, publicly-traded company points to our ability to deliver shareholder value," said Roy Harvey, Chief Executive Officer of Alcoa. "Rising alumina and aluminum prices improved the bottom line, our alumina segment had exceptional profit growth in a stronger market environment and doubled margins, while our bauxite business also increased profits and reported robust margins."

Aluminum shipments rose to 852,000 metric tons from 819,000 metric tons

Alcoa's earnings report are closely watched by investors as it's one of the first major companies to report quarterly results and unofficially kicks starts the earnings season.

AA closed Tuesday's trading at $37.50, up $1.21 or 3.33%, on the NYSE. The stock further rose $0.60 or 1.60% in the after-hours trade.