Alcoa said on Tuesday that its fourth-quarter earnings met Wall Street’s expectations and that it expected slightly higher demand for aluminum this year.
Net income was $242 million, or 21 cents a share, including one-time gains like income from selling a hydroelectric project.
Without those gains, the company would have made 6 cents a share on revenue of $5.9 billion, meeting analysts’ expectations, according to FactSet. Sales were higher than the $5.58 billion that analysts had predicted.
A year ago, the company posted a fourth-quarter loss of $193 million, or 18 cents a share, on revenue of $6 billion, and a loss after special items of 3 cents a share.
The weak global economy has hurt industrial demand for aluminum. But Alcoa expects demand to grow 7 percent in 2013, up from a 6 percent gain in 2012. It said the best prospects were in aerospace and forecast slower improvement in the auto, packaging, and building and construction markets.
The company said it had made record profits in its aluminum-rolling and product-making businesses while cutting costs in its mining and refining, or “upstream,” segments.
Alcoa’s chief executive, Klaus Kleinfeld, said the company had overcome volatile aluminum prices and global economic weakness and was in a “strong position to maximize profitable growth” in 2013.
Alcoa is the first company in the Dow Jones industrial average to report fourth-quarter earnings. Because it makes aluminum for many major industries, investors study its results for clues about the health and direction of the overall economy.
Stock in the company, which is based in New York, closed unchanged in regular trading at $9.10 a share. In late-session trading after the earnings report was released, the stock gained 12 cents to $9.22 a share.
Alcoa Reports Income of $242 Million Despite Weak Global Demand
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Alcoa Reports Income of $242 Million Despite Weak Global Demand
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Alcoa Reports Income of $242 Million Despite Weak Global Demand
