Alcoa Conference Call Highlights

Shares of Alcoa

are up 4.31 percent following its second quarter earnings release on Wednesday. Below are some highlights and key takeaways from its conference call: Growth: The transformation accelerates. All groups improved on a quarter-to-quarter as well a year-to-year basis. Strong operational performance and the second one is our transformation is continuing and we're changing the portfolio. Just to pick out a few things that happened in the quarter, $100 million investment that we announced to expand our structural engine component offering in Indiana - LaPorte, Indiana $25 million investment to further enhance our jet engine blade performance. As we look toward the third quarter, we expect the aerospace market to remain strong, but see lower U.S. defense spare parts demand. Financials: Revenue increased roughly $380 million on a sequential quarter basis to $5.8 billion We saw revenue growth across all of our major end markets. Cost of goods sold percent decreased sequentially by 80 basis points due to better price and mix for the quarter and productivity gains. Results for the quarter are a net gain of $0.12 per share. Sustaining capital through the first half was $261 million, significantly lower than the run rate of $750 million Turning to the aluminum market, we've not changed our view that market fundamentals are positive and we're reaffirming our global aluminum growth projection of 7% this year.