Kaiser Shares Slide on Earnings

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Shares in Kaiser Aluminum Corp. fell nearly 10 percent Tuesday after the company reported a 55 percent slide in profit.


Kaiser reported first quarter net income of $17 million, (86 cents per share), a 55 percent decrease from $38 million (48 cents per share), a falloff the company attributed to higher material costs. Per-share earnings jumped due to the company reducing its number of shares outstanding by 74 percent to 20.2 million. Analysts polled by Thomson Financial had projected earnings of $1.07 per share.


Sales for the Foothill Ranch-based aluminum fabricator increased 17 percent to $392 million as the company raised prices on its metals and fabricated products and boosted shipments to the aerospace industries. Wall Street had expected revenue of $383 million.


Jack A. Hockema, chairman, president and chief executive of Kaiser, said in a statement that sales gains for the period were driven by “robust demand for aerospace and defense applications, partially offset by soft demand in ground transportation and other industrial applications for fabricated products.”


Shares of Kaiser closed down $8.43, or 9.6 percent, to $79.52 Tuesday but regained $1.91, or 2.4 percent, in after-hours trading to $81.43 on the Nasdaq.

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