Alcoa revenue tops estimates, sees higher aluminum demand

Alcoa Corp reported higher-than-expected revenue in its first quarterly results after the metals company split into two in November, helped partly by a rise in alumina prices.

The company's shares were up 4.5 percent in after-hours trading on Tuesday. The stock had risen 42 percent since Donald Trump's victory in the Nov. 8 U.S. presidential election.

The producer of aluminum, alumina and bauxite said it expects a 4 percent growth in global aluminum demand in 2017.

"Rising alumina and aluminum prices improved the bottom line," Chief Executive Officer Roy Harvey said in a statement, adding that margins doubled in the company's alumina segment.

Alcoa generated $2.54 billion in revenue in the quarter, beating the average analyst estimate of $2.46 billion, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

The New York-based company reported net loss of $125 million, or 68 cents per share, for the fourth quarter ended December 31.

Alcoa said it expects bauxite and alumina markets to be relatively balanced in 2017 and "a modest" global aluminum surplus of 400,000-800,000 metric tons.

(Reporting by Sruthi Shankar and Sweta Singh in Bengaluru; Editing by Saumyadeb Chakrabarty)