Alcoa Inc. Q3 Beats Street Views; Touts Repositioning Strategy

Alcoa Inc.

kicked off the earnings season Wednesday, beating third-quarter Street views and touting its progress in shifting emphasis to value-added products. In the after-hours session, Alcoa changed hands recently at $16.37 a share, up nearly 2 percent. Chief Executive Klaus Kleinfeld called strong performance "the direct result of our intense focus on repositioning our portfolio." The company's engineered products segment posted operating income of $209 million, up 9 percent from a year earlier and "the highest in history." Primary metals operating income grew to $245 million, from $8 million in third quarter 2013, while rolled products operating income grew 45 percent to $103 million from $71 million in third quarter 2013. Alcoa reaffirmed its 2014 forecast of 7 percent growth in worldwide demand for aluminum The company sees a global aluminum deficit of 671,000 metric tons in 2014, and a further tightening of the alumina market, with a surplus declining to 389,000 metric tons from 824,000 metric tons in second quarter 2014. The company's pending acquisition of jet engine component maker Firth Rixson will boost Alcoa's annual aerospace revenue by 20 percent, from $4 billion in 2013 to $4.8 billion, the company said. In the recent period, Alcoa's profits grew to $149 million or $0.12 a share, from $24 million, or $0.02 a share a year earlier. Excluding items, adjusted income was $0.31 a share. Sales grew 8 percent to $6.24 billion from $5.76 billion a year earlier. Wall Street expected adjusted income of $0.23 a share, on sales of $585 billion.