Century Aluminum (CENX) Q4 Earnings and Sales Miss Estimates


Century Aluminum Company


CENX

reported net loss of $35.5 million or 40 cents per share in fourth-quarter 2020, wider than net loss of $4.8 million or 5 cents per share in the year-ago quarter. The bottom line in the reported quarter was affected by $4.9 million of exceptional items.

Barring one-time items, adjusted loss was 32 cents per share, wider than the Zacks Consensus Estimate of a loss of 26 cents.

Revenues and Shipments

The company generated net sales of $389.1 million in the fourth quarter, down 10.7% year over year. The figure missed the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $414.8 million.

Shipments of primary aluminum were 194,940 tons, down around 4% year over year.

FY20 Results

Loss (as reported) for full-year 2020 was $1.38 per share compared with a loss of 91 cents per share a year ago. Net sales declined 12.6% year over year to $1,605.1 million.

Financials

At the end of the year, the company had cash and cash equivalents of $81.6 million, up more than two fold year over year.

Net cash provided by operating activities was $42.9 million for 2020.

Outlook

Century Aluminum stated that there is an improvement in demand across various intermediate and end markets. Moreover, manufacturing activities continue to be strong in the United States. A number of factors have also led to strong prices and product premiums, and its operations are stable with production at expected levels of cost and efficiency. The financial results in the fourth quarter were in line with expectations. Strength in its profitability and cash flow is likely to get reflected in results for the upcoming quarters, the company noted.

Price Performance

Shares of Century Aluminum have surged 101.9% in the past year compared with 38.8% rise of the

industry

.

Zacks Rank & Key Picks

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

Some better-ranked stocks in the basic materials space are

Fortescue Metals Group Limited


FSUGY

,

BHP Group


BHP

and

Impala Platinum Holdings Limited


IMPUY

.

Fortescue has a projected earnings growth rate of 84.3% for the current fiscal. The company’s shares have surged around 171.1% in a year. It currently carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). You can see


the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

BHP has an expected earnings growth rate of 65.6% for the current fiscal. The company’s shares have gained around 59% in the past year. It currently holds a Zacks Rank #2.

Impala has an expected earnings growth rate of 195.9% for the current fiscal. The company’s shares have rallied around 67.1% in the past year. It currently sports a Zacks Rank #1.

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