NEW YORK, Oct 25 (Reuters) - Kaiser Aluminum Corp's (KALU.O) third-quarter profit dropped 74 percent, missing Wall Street estimates, and the company warned on Monday of a quarter-to-quarter decline in shipments.
Net income fell to $6 million, or 29 cents per share, from $23 million, or $1.14 a share, a year earlier, the Foothill Ranch, California-based company said.
Excluding certain items, earnings were 32 cents per share. On that basis, analysts on average were expecting 43 cents, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S/.
Net sales rose slightly to $263 million from $252 million.
"Demand for our general engineering, automotive and industrial applications continues to reflect a slow recovery," said Chief Executive Officer Jack Hockema. "We do not anticipate any meaningful restocking of service center inventories until the economic recovery is strong enough."
He said Kaiser anticipated that fourth-quarter shipments would be slightly lower than the third as a result of normal year-end seasonality.
Kaiser's stock was down 0.7 percent at $44.85 in morning Nasdaq trading.