Alcoa Corp. (NYSE: AA) vs. Ball Corp. (NYSE: BLL)

April 11, 2012 0

April 11,2012 (AAPLTrader)
Alcoa Inc. (NYSE: AA), the world’s leading producer of fabricated aluminum and primary aluminum. This company is accountable for the employment of 61,000 people across 31 different countries and 200 plus different locations. In addition, AA is the world’s largest miner of bauxite and refiner of alumina.

“The Aluminum Country of America”, quoted in 1891 when the company went into production out of Pittsburgh Pennsylvania.

Alcoa Inc. (NYSE: AA) specifies in the following areas;

Aerospace
Packaging
Automotive
Consumer and electronics
Building and construction
Commercial transportation

Since the financial crash in 2008, AA has not been much of a competitor in the stock market having a 52 week range of 8.45-17.96 and slightly declining while the rest of the market has been lifting. However, they did come out with a profit being the first blue-chip Dow Jones Industrial Average member to announce their earnings this year in 2012. They reported a net income of $94 million, which is great when comparing it to the $191 million they lost in the fourth quarter of 2011.

Even though AA has been struggling the last few years, they have managed to slightly increase their revenue to $6 billion from $5.96 billion in last year’s first quarter earnings. That is a positive.

“Performance rebounded strongly this quarter due to our proactive cash sustainability actions, our relentless focus on profitable growth, and stabilizing markets,” said Klaus Kleinfeld, Alcoa chairman and chief executive.

Alcoa is now having to adjust to the world-wide economic issues by slashing their refining production by 4% and stabilizing their business to the world market. The demand has decreased for Alcoa in China and in Europe. Even though China pushes out a lot of aluminum, they are not presently on the top of the gold mountain so to speak.

We’ll just have to wait and see if AA can survive and advance to the upside in the stock market, or maybe someone else just might have to take over and put Alcoa in the history books, which I believe is on the way.

Let’s see if their profitable earnings of 9 cents a share can create a “buy” in the stock market for them.

Now let’s talk about the Ball Corporation (NYSE: BLL). This company is the world’s leading producer in recycled beverage cans, not fabricated or primary aluminum like AA provides. By balancing economic, social and environmental impacts for society, BLL’s main focus is creating long-term value for everyone and everything worldwide. BLL is known to help companies save money and energy by creating products that are more self-sufficient and re-usable.

Ball Corp. (NYSE: BLL) provides value in the following areas;

Increase in safety performance
Reduction in electricity use
Reduction in use of natural gas
Reduction of water use
Stopping waste and increasing recycling
Reduction of Volatile Organic Compounds (VOC) in the air

I believe this company is an ideal model for other companies to follow in order to keep the world environment clean and to make sure there will be clean air and water for future citizens. Agree?

Founded in 1880, BLL is responsible for the employment of more than 14,000 plus people in more than 90 locations worldwide. This company’s main target is in aerospace technology and is a leader in design, development, and manufacture of new aerospace systems. BLL creates metal packaging for beverages, foods, and household products. Ball Corp. creates packaging & materials for aerospace and other technologies and services to commercial and governmental customers all around the world.

In the last 6 months, Ball Corp. (NYSE: BLL) has been a climbing trend in the New York Stock Market Exchange. Previously on October 4, 2011, BLL closed at $30.63 and now currently has rallied up to $43.50 on April 5, 2012. That is a difference of $12.87 or about 30% over approximately six months in time. Not too shabby.

Although Alcoa Corp. (NYSE: AA) has a higher volume of trading (3 month avg. 24,418,300) and Ball Corp. (NYSE: BLL) with a much lower volume (3 month avg. 1,129,030), I still believe BLL will be more successful in the future because of it’s green model.

Furthermore, with earnings coming up for Ball Corp. on April 26, 2012, we shall see the profits this company has made over the first quarter of 2012.

Alcoa 4 year chart – Notice Alcoa has not recovered from it’s fall in 2008.