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.