Century Aluminum

Century just booked 752 million dollars in sales for the quarter, up about 103 million dollars from the prior three months. Adjusted profit came in at 2 dollars and 46 cents per share, up from 1 dollar and 63 cents last quarter. Higher metal prices plus more tons out the door is a powerful combination.

They finished restarting the last 90 pots at their South Carolina smelter and brought a second production line in Iceland back to near full output. Shipments climbed to 130,632 tons from 122,865. They also guided next quarter's earnings power to between 325 and 345 million dollars, and by late July the company held more cash than total debt.

Century lives and dies by the aluminum price. This quarter alone included 61 million dollars of costs tied to equipment failures in Iceland and higher raw material costs. If tariffs get rolled back or the economy cools, that 752 million dollar sales run rate can shrink fast.

Reported profit actually fell 88 million dollars from last quarter, mostly because the prior period included a one time 288 million dollar gain from selling a plant. Their equipment keeps breaking, they are still leaning on insurance payouts of 40 million dollars this quarter, and a hurricane disrupted the Jamaica refinery. Big industrial plants are expensive when they misbehave.