Alcoa Says Earnings Better Than Expected

Alcoa Inc., the world’s largest aluminum producer, said its second-quarter operating earnings rose 14% to $429 million, or 49 cents a share, four cents better than analysts expected.

Alcoa’s latest results exclude hefty charges of $144 million for idling plants in the Northwest, where power costs have soared.

The Pittsburgh-based company said profit got a boost from cost-cutting and such acquisitions as Reynolds Metals Co. and aerospace maker Cordant Technologies Inc., which it bought last year. Revenue rose 7% to $6 billion from a year earlier as Alcoa sold some of its contracted electricity--which it normally would have used to run the idled plants--back to the power market.

The company’s shares fell 98 cents to $39.80 on the New York Stock Exchange.

Chief Executive Alain Belda said profit in its second quarter was dampened by lower prices for alumina and aluminum ingot, continued weakness in the industrial and auto markets and curtailed smelting and refining production.