Alcoa Sinks Despite Bottom Line Earnings Beat

Alcoa Inc. (NYSE: AA) reported its first quarter financial results after the markets closed on Monday. The aluminum giant had $0.07 in earnings per share (EPS) on $4.95 billion in revenue compared to the consensus estimates from Thomson Reuters that called for $0.02 in EPS on $5.14 billion in revenue. The same period from the previous year had $0.28 in EPS on $5.82 billion in revenue.

Although the company announced its most recent financial results live on air, there was not a formal press release immediately available to accompany the announcement.

Alcoa also had a negative $681 million in free cash flow for the first quarter. During this quarter cash used for operations was $430 million. On the books, cash and cash equivalents totaled $1.38 billion at the end of the quarter.

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As for the company’s market update, in aerospace, Alcoa is projecting 6% to 8% global aerospace sales growth in 2016, revised from the 8% to 9% estimated in fourth quarter 2015. In automotive, Alcoa continues to forecast global automotive production growth of 1% to 4%, including 1% to 5% growth in North America.

In terms of its segments the company reported:

• Global Rolled Products had $68 million in after-tax operation income (ATOI), up 26% from last year.
• Engineered Products and Solutions had record first quarter revenue of $1.4 billion, and record ATOI of $162 million, up 4% from last year.
• Transportation and Construction Solutions had $39 million in ATOI, up 3% from last year.

Klaus Kleinfeld, Chairman and CEO of Alcoa, commented:

Each of our segments delivered strong performance. Profits grew in all of the Arconic segments, led by automotive and aerospace; Upstream segments maintained profitability in a persistently low pricing environment. Productivity was high across the portfolio and we divested non-essential assets to strengthen the balance sheet. We won new contracts for bauxite supply, 3-D printed titanium aerospace parts, and airfoils in our largest IGT deal ever. Looking ahead, we are well on track to meet or exceed our three-year business targets in our segments, with the exception of EPS, where we have revised expectations to better reflect aerospace market conditions and Firth Rixson performance. Our separation is on course for completion later this year.

Shares of Alcoa closed Monday up 4% at $9.74, with a consensus analyst price target of $10.61 and a 52-week trading range of $6.14 to $14.29. Following the release of the earnings report the stock was down 3.4% at $9.41 in the after-hours trading session.