Alcoa +4% on Q1 earnings beat, upbeat aluminum outlook

Alcoa  +4.1% premarket after easily beating Q1 earnings expectations in its first full quarter as a stand-alone company.

AA says Q1 profits grew sequentially on stronger alumina and aluminum pricing, and reports a 59% Q/Q gain in adjusted EBITDA of $533M.

AA reiterates expectations for FY 2017 adjusted EBITDA of $2.1B-$2.3B and projects 2017 global aluminum demand growth of 4.5%-5% Y/Y, up from its January outlook for 4% growth.

The company continues to see relatively balanced global bauxite and alumina markets and a global aluminum surplus of 300K-700K metric tons.

AA will be "very aggressive on cost-cutting,” analyst Lloyd O’Carroll tells Bloomberg, and “can move a lot faster” since the Arconic spinoff.