Century Aluminum Company CENX reported net loss of $4.8 million or 5 cents per share in fourth-quarter 2019, narrower than a net loss of $65 million or 74 cents in the year-ago quarter.

Barring one-time items, adjusted loss per share were 9 cents, narrower than the Zacks Consensus Estimate of a loss of 14 cents.

Revenues and Shipments

The company generated revenues of $435.5 million in the fourth quarter, down 10.6% year over year. Nevertheless, the figure beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $416.8 million.

Shipments of primary aluminum were 202,870 tons, up 7.3% year over year. The upside reflects the impact of the ongoing Hawesville restart project. 

Century Aluminum Company Price, Consensus and EPS Surprise

Century Aluminum Company price-consensus-eps-surprise-chart | Century Aluminum Company Quote

2019 Highlights

In 2019, adjusted loss came in at $129.2 million or $1.35 per share, which was wider than adjusted loss of $13 million or 14 cents a year ago.

Net sales declined 3% year over year to $1,836.6 million. Total shipments rose 8.2% year over year to 811,244 tons.

Financials

At the end of 2019, the company had cash and cash equivalents of $38.9 million, flat year over year.

Net cash provided by operating activities was $17.7 million during 2019.

Outlook

The company stated that the external environment improved heading into 2020. It has started to witness a pickup in industrial activities across several key global markets. Moreover, the recently-signed U.S.-China trade agreement is expected to support these trends.

The coronavirus outbreak has put pressure on the market price of industrial commodities by affecting global economic activity. Input cost trends have moved uniformly in the company’s favor. Moreover, alumina prices have settled at normalized levels while carbon prices have continued to decline.

Century Aluminum is exposed to power prices in the United States and Europe. Power prices have seen a declining trend suggesting persistent decrease in the cost of power generation.

Price Performance

Century Aluminum’s shares have tumbled 29.9% in the past year compared with the industry’s 7.7% decline.

Zacks Rank & Key Picks

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

Some better-ranked stocks in the basic materials space are Daqo New Energy Corp DQ, Sibanye Gold Limited SBGL and Impala Platinum Holdings Limited IMPUY, each currently sporting a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

Daqo New Energy has an expected long-term earnings growth rate of 29%. The company’s shares have surged 95.1% in the past year.

Sibanye has an expected long-term earnings growth rate of 20.4%. Its shares have returned 183.1% in the past year.    

Impala Platinum has an expected long-term earnings growth rate of 26.5%. The company’s shares have surged 200.8% in the past year.

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