Strong demand for lightweight aluminium in cars and planes is helping Alcoa cope with lingering weak metal prices.
The company said its second-quarter loss was wider than a year ago, but excluding costs for closing smelters and other restructuring and legal expenses, the results slightly beat Wall Street expectations.
Alcoa has customers in many industries, making it a gauge of the economy. And as the first member of the Dow index to report quarterly results, its results draw extra attention from investors.
The company stuck to its forecast of 7% growth in global aluminium demand this year, led by a roughly 10% increase for aerospace.
Aluminium prices skidded about 8% during the three months from April to June, further hurting the aluminium mining and smelting end of Alcoa.
But other parts of Alcoa's business - the sale of aluminium sheets and parts such as fasteners - are growing as carmakers and aircraft manufacturers use more aluminium for better fuel efficiency.
US consumers who delayed car purchases during the recession bought more than 7.8 million vehicles from January to June, the auto industry's best first half since 2007.
And Boeing and Airbus have backlogs of hundreds of aircraft from airlines desperate to upgrade to newer, more fuel-efficient planes. Alcoa is closing two smelter lines in Canada and a smelter in Italy, but it is expanding mills in the US that cater to the car and aerospace industries.
