NEW YORK CITY (dpa-AFX) - Alcoa Inc. (AA), the largest producer of aluminum in the US, Wednesday reported a swing to profit in the fourth quarter, driven largely by revenue growth. Earnings for the quarter trumped Wall Street estimates, but revenues fell short.
New York-based Alcoa reported fourth-quarter net income of $43 million or $0.23 per share, compared with loss of $196 million or $1.06 per share last year.
Adjusted earnings for the quarter were $0.66 per share, down from $1.04 per share last year. On average, 12 analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected earnings of $0.62 per share.
Sales for the quarter rose to $3.34 billion from $3.17 billion last year. Analysts had a consensus revenue estimate of $3.35 billion.
Aluminum shipments dropped to 815,000 metric tons from to 854,000 metric tons last year, while alumina shipments rose to 2.37 million metric tons from 2.31 million metric tons last year.
CEO Roy Harvey said, 'Despite sequentially weaker commodity prices, we had a strong fourth quarter with higher profits in our Bauxite and Alumina segments. With the help of higher market prices earlier in the year, we increased annual profits, addressed liabilities, significantly strengthened our balance sheet, and began returning cash to stockholders.'
Looking forward to 2019, Alcoa projects bauxite shipments to range between 47.0 and 48.0 million dry metric tons. Total alumina shipments are expected to be between 13.6 and 13.7 million metric tons with anticipated operational improvements and higher year-on-year production. Aluminum is expected to ship between 2.8 and 2.9 million metric tons.
AA closed Wednesday's trading at $28.98, up $0.08 or 0.28% on the NYSE. The stock, however, slipped $0.34 or 1.17% in the after-hours trade.
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