Century Aluminum Meets on the Top Line, Misses Where it Counts

Seth Jayson, The Motley Fool
Updated

Century Aluminum (NAS: CENX) reported earnings on April 25. Here are the numbers you need to know.

The 10-second takeaway
 For the quarter ended March 31 (Q1), Century Aluminum met expectations on revenues and missed expectations on earnings per share.

Compared to the prior-year quarter, revenue dropped slightly. Non-GAAP loss per share grew. GAAP earnings per share grew.


Gross margins dropped, operating margins dropped, net margins grew.

Revenue details
 Century Aluminum logged revenue of $321.3 million. The six analysts polled by S&P Capital IQ wanted to see net sales of $324.2 million on the same basis. GAAP reported sales were the same as the prior-year quarter's.

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 -$0.06. The eight earnings estimates compiled by S&P Capital IQ averaged -$0.04 per share. Non-GAAP EPS were -$0.06 for Q1 compared to -$0.04 per share for the prior-year quarter. GAAP EPS were $0.09 for Q1 against -$0.05 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 5.5%, 80 basis points worse than the prior-year quarter. Operating margin was 0.1%, 250 basis points worse than the prior-year quarter. Net margin was 2.6%, 390 basis points better than the prior-year quarter. (Margins calculated in GAAP terms.)

Looking ahead
 Next quarter's average estimate for revenue is $317.4 million. On the bottom line, the average EPS estimate is -$0.05.

Next year's average estimate for revenue is $1.21 billion. The average EPS estimate is -$0.04.

Investor sentiment
 The stock has a two-star rating (out of five) at Motley Fool CAPS, with 428 members out of 469 rating the stock outperform, and 41 members rating it underperform. Among 103 CAPS All-Star picks (recommendations by the highest-ranked CAPS members), 95 give Century Aluminum a green thumbs-up, and eight 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 $8.63.

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The article Century Aluminum Meets on the Top Line, Misses Where it Counts 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 position in any of the stocks mentioned. 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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