Alcoa swings to profit on lower costs

Aluminum producer Alcoa Tuesday swung to profitability for the third quarter on the strength of lower costs and in spite of declining metals prices. Alcoa, a longtime US industrial bellwether but which was dropped last month from the Dow Jones Industrial Average, said profits for the quarter ended September 30 came in at $24 million on revenues of $5.77 billion, up from a loss of $143 million on revenues of $5.83 billion a year ago. Excluding special items, which included $109 million in restructuring costs, earnings were 11 cents per share, five cents above analyst expectations. Alcoa said strong performance in its engineered products and global rolled products overcame a 7 percent decline in year-over-year aluminum prices. Total costs and expenses for the period declined 5.8 percent to $5.69 billion. "Our performance this period shows our repositioning of the company is on the right path," said chief executive Klaus Kleinfeld. "Our commodity business delivered better performance in a tougher market environment, and we continued to reshape the portfolio to lower the cost base." Alcoa shares were up 1.6 percent to $8.07 in after-hours trading.