Alcoa stocks up despite loss

The share price of aluminium producer Alcoa has risen despite the company revealing a loss for the first quarter of the year in its latest financial results.

It was confirmed by the company that in the January to March period, it made a loss of $178 million (£106 million), but its stocks were up on the New York Stock Exchange regardless.

Alcoa, which is among the world's biggest producers of aluminium, stated that one of the reasons for it making a loss during the three-month period was an eight per cent dip in the price of aluminium when compared to the same period in 2013.

CEO comments

Klaus Kleinfeld, Alcoa's chief executive officer, said: "Our transformation is accelerating – we're powering growth in our value-add businesses and aggressively reshaping our commodity business."

He added that the company also hit record downstream profitability during the first quarter of the year, while its results also show that it nearly tripled results in the midstream. Alcoa was also able to strengthen its upstream business for the tenth quarter in a row.

Investors were clearly convinced by the comments made by the Alcoa chief executive in a statement released alongside the results, as shares in the aluminium producer rose on the back of the figures.

Stocks in the business rose by 0.48 per cent on the New York Stock Exchange yesterday (April 8th) and added a further 2.63 per cent in after-hours trading in the US last night.

Alcoa revealed that it is increasing its 2014 global aerospace growth expectation by one percentage point – up from eight per cent to nine per cent, which the company noted was due to the "strong demand for both large commercial aircraft and regional jets and continued growth in the business jet market".

The firm added: "The company also continues to project 2014 growth in automotive (one per cent to four per cent), packaging (two per cent to three per cent), and building and construction (four per cent to six per cent).

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