Century Aluminum Beats Up on Analysts Yet Again

Seth Jayson, The Motley Fool
Updated

Century Aluminum (NAS: CENX) reported earnings on Nov. 1. Here are the numbers you need to know.

The 10-second takeaway
 For the quarter ended Sep. 30 (Q3), Century Aluminum beat expectations on revenues and missed expectations on earnings per share.

Compared to the prior-year quarter, revenue dropped and GAAP loss per share expanded.


Margins dropped across the board.

Revenue details
 Century Aluminum tallied revenue of $304.6 million. The seven analysts polled by S&P Capital IQ predicted a top line of $297.7 million on the same basis. GAAP reported sales were 12% lower than the prior-year quarter's $345.6 million.

Source: S&P Capital IQ. Quarterly periods. Dollar amounts in millions. Non-GAAP figures may vary to maintain comparability with estimates.

EPS details
 EPS came in at -$0.27. The 11 earnings estimates compiled by S&P Capital IQ anticipated -$0.26 per share. GAAP EPS were -$0.14 for Q3 compared to -$0.07 per share for the prior-year quarter.

Source: S&P Capital IQ. Quarterly periods. Non-GAAP figures may vary to maintain comparability with estimates.

Margin details
 For the quarter, gross margin was 1.1%, 220 basis points worse than the prior-year quarter. Operating margin was -4.4%, 460 basis points worse than the prior-year quarter. Net margin was -3.9%, 200 basis points worse than the prior-year quarter.

Looking ahead
 Next quarter's average estimate for revenue is $315.5 million. On the bottom line, the average EPS estimate is -$0.07.

Next year's average estimate for revenue is $1.26 billion. The average EPS estimate is -$0.56.

Investor sentiment
 The stock has a three-star rating (out of five) at Motley Fool CAPS, with 441 members out of 480 rating the stock outperform, and 39 members rating it underperform. Among 120 CAPS All-Star picks (recommendations by the highest-ranked CAPS members), 113 give Century Aluminum a green thumbs-up, and seven give it a red thumbs-down.

Of Wall Street recommendations tracked by S&P Capital IQ, the average opinion on Century Aluminum is hold, with an average price target of $8.13.

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The article Century Aluminum Beats Up on Analysts Yet Again originally appeared on Fool.com.

Seth Jayson had no position in any company mentioned here at the time of publication. You can view his stock holdings here. He is co-advisor ofMotley Fool Hidden Gems, which provides new small-cap ideas every month, backed by a real-money portfolio. The Motley Fool has no positions in the stocks mentioned above. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services free for 30 days. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

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