What to look for when Alcoa (AA) reports Q4 earnings

Alcoa Corporation (NYSE: AA) is slated to report fourth quarter 2019 earnings results on Wednesday, January 15, after the market closes. Analysts have projected a loss of $0.22 per share. This is a sharp drop from earnings of $0.66 per share last year. Revenue is also expected to decline over 25% year-over-year to $2.48 billion.

Alcoa has been struggling with weak demand and a tough macroeconomic environment. The company has been taking measures to lower costs and improve profitability. In October, the company said it was reviewing 4 million metric tons of alumina capacity, or around 27% of its global refining capacity.

As part of these efforts, last month, Alcoa announced the closure of its Point Comfort alumina refinery in Texas. The company will incur restructuring charges of around $175 million, or $0.94 per share, related to the closure in Q4 2019. Starting this year, the closure is expected to yield annual net income improvement of approx. $15 million and cash savings of approx. $10 million compared to the curtailment costs.

Also read: Alcoa Q3 2019 Earnings Conference Call Transcript

At the start of this year, Alcoa announced the sale of its Gum Springs, Arkansas waste treatment facility to Veolia ES Technical Solutions for $250 million. The deal is expected to close in the first quarter of 2020. As announced last quarter, Alcoa is pursuing sales of non-core assets over a period of 12-18 months in order to generate cash of $500 million to $1 billion.

In the third quarter of 2019, Alcoa missed earnings estimates while revenues were in line with forecasts. Revenue fell 5% to $2.6 billion while adjusted EPS totaled $0.44.

Alcoa’s shares have fallen 31% over the past one year and 8% in the past one month. The stock has an average price target of $24.00.

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