By Rob Delaney
July 8 (Bloomberg) -- Alcoa Inc., the largest U.S. aluminum producer, reported a second-quarter loss that was narrower than analysts’ estimates after production cuts and workforce reductions helped the company save money.
Excluding certain items, the loss was 26 cents a share, narrower than analysts’ average estimate for a 38-cent loss. The net loss of $454 million, or 47 cents a share, compared with net income of $546 million, or 66 cents, a year earlier, New York- based Alcoa said today in a statement. Sales fell 41 percent to $4.24 billion.
Chief Executive Officer Klaus Kleinfeld has reduced output and fired workers as the recession slows demand from builders and manufacturers. Excess production capacity and stockpiles that have risen 89 percent this year have kept aluminum’s price little changed this year, compared with a 54 percent gain for copper and a 28 percent increase for nickel.
“Alcoa has the staying power and reduced cost base to withstand the most serious downturn in the history of the aluminum industry,” Kleinfeld said in the statement.
Alcoa rose 5 cents to $9.46 at 4:15 p.m. in New York Stock Exchange composite trading. The shares fell 16 percent this year before today.
Alcoa is the first company in the Dow Jones Industrial Average to announce results for the three months through June.
To contact the reporter responsible for this story: Rob Delaney in Toronto at robdelaney@bloomberg.net.
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