Century Aluminum (CENX) Q1 Earnings, Revenues Beat Estimates

Century Aluminum Company CENX reported net loss of $34.6 million or 39 cents per share in first-quarter 2019, wider than a loss of $3 million or breakeven level in the year-ago quarter.

Barring one-time items, adjusted loss came in at 70 cents per share, which was narrower than the Zacks Consensus Estimate of a loss of 71 cents.

Century Aluminum Company Price, Consensus and EPS Surprise

Century Aluminum Company Price, Consensus and EPS Surprise | Century Aluminum Company Quote

Revenues and Shipments

The company generated revenues of $490 million in the quarter, up around 7.8% year over year. The figure beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $485 million.

Shipments of primary aluminum were 206,451 tons, up 10.3% year over year. The shipments benefited from restart of the Hawesville facility.  

Financials

As of Mar 31, 2019, the company had cash and cash equivalents of $22.2 million, down from $130.8 million a year ago. Net cash used in operating activities was $21.5 million during the quarter.

Outlook

Per management, the market is well supplied presently and new production is expected to come online in 2019. Moreover, potential restarts in the Atlantic basin is expected put downward pressure on index prices. The company is executing its growth and cost structure improvement plans.

Conforming to the schedule, all three curtailed potlines at Hawesville were fully operational during the first quarter. The company is now focusing on installing and rebuilding the new technology on the two producing lines. The company believes that it is well positioned to capitalize on the return to a normal pricing environment.

Price Performance

Century Aluminum’s shares have plunged 44.8% in the past year compared with the industry’s 14.1% decline.

Zacks Rank & Key Picks

Century Aluminum currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).

Some better-ranked stocks in the basic materials space are Sandstorm Gold Ltd. SAND, Flexible Solutions International Inc FSI and The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company SMG.

Sandstorm Gold has an expected earnings growth rate of 200% for the current year and sports a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy). The stock has gained around 9.5% in the past year.  You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

Flexible Solutions has an expected earnings growth rate of 171.4% for the current year and carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). Its shares have soared roughly 110.5% in the past year.

Scotts Miracle-Gro has an expected earnings growth rate of 14.6% for the current year and holds a Zacks Rank #2. Its shares have gained around 14.1% in the past year.

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