Cyclical upswing benefits Alcoa

Article Excerpt

ALCOA CORP. $36 is still a buy. The company (New York symbol AA; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Resources sector; Shares o/s: 185.9 million; Market cap: $6.7 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 0.7; No dividends paid; TSINetwork Rating: Extra Risk; www.alcoa.com) is a leading producer of bauxite ore. It also operates refineries that convert bauxite into aluminum products. Thanks to higher aluminum prices and shipments as the global economy recovers from last year’s COVID-19 shutdowns, Alcoa’s sales in the quarter ended March 31, 2021, rose 20.5%, to $2.87 billion from $2.38 billion a year earlier. If you exclude all unusual items, Alcoa earned $150 million, or $0.79 a share, in the latest quarter. A year earlier, the company lost $42 million, or $0.23 a share. Alcoa is also benefiting from its plan to raise between $500 million and $1 billion by selling less-important businesses. Those include the recent sale of its aluminum rolling mill operations to Kaiser Aluminum Corp. (Nasdaq symbol KALU) for $670 million. The company recorded a..