Alcoa is the first company to announce its earnings for the second quarter of 2013 and delivered a shot in the arm for both revenue and earnings.
The company also remained optimistic that the demand globally for aluminum would grow by 7% in 2013, driven mainly by demand from the commercial transportation and aerospace sectors.
CEO of Alcoa, Klaus Kleinfeld said the aluminum fundamentals remained very strong and growth for the year is expected of 7%. He said it was impossible to predict the price of the metal, but he believes the current price was a low point.
However, the company lowered its debt by $566 million during the recently ended quarter.
Excluding impact for restructuring costs and the cost linked to a legal matter, the company enjoyed a $76 million profit or 7 cents a share, up from the $61 million or 6 cents a share from last year during the same quarter.
Revenue was down and ended the quarter at $5.85 billion, from the same quarter a year ago of $5.96 billion.
Analysts on Wall Street expected the maker of aluminum to report its earnings, less certain items to be 6 cents per share and $5.83 billion in revenues.
Productivity gains were reported by Alcoa across its entire line of units.
Strong performance came from its solution and engineered products business, which makes goods that are high margin, such as truck wheels, turbine blades and aerospace fasteners.
