Alcoa Corp. Shares Gain After Company's Sales Come In Slightly Above Expectations

Shares of Alcoa Corp. rose more than 1% late Tuesday after the company reported adjusted per-share earnings below expectations and sales were slightly above forecasts. Alcoa said it lost $125 million, or 68 cents a share, in the fourth quarter, compared with a loss of $826 million in the year-ago quarter. Adjusted for one-time items, Alcoa earned $26 million, or 14 cents a share. Revenue reached $2.5 billion in the quarter, compared with $2.4 billion a year ago. Analysts polled by FactSet had expected adjusted earnings of 20 cents a share on sales $2.39 billion. It was Alcoa's first reporting period as a new, standalone, publicly traded company. Alcoa last year split in two concerns: Arconic Inc., an aircraft and car parts supplier, and the more traditional aluminum smelting and producing operations at Alcoa Corp. "Rising alumina and aluminum prices improved the bottom line," Roy Harvey, Alcoa's chief executive, said in a statement. The company continued to streamline its portfolio, he said. Shares of Alcoa had ended the regular trading session up 3.3%.