Century Aluminum (CENX) Launches Natur-Al Aluminum Products

Century Aluminum Company (NASDAQ:CENX) announced the launch of its Natur-Al low-carbon aluminum products.

Natur-Al aluminum products are manufactured at the company’s ASI-certified Noroural Grundartangi facility in Iceland, using 100% renewable energy. This enables it to achieve 4 tons CO2 per ton of aluminum or CO2 levels below one-fourth of the industry average, which is one of the world’s lowest CO2 footprints.

Independent third parties check all CO2 emissions, facilitating the assessments of the life-cycle of its customers.

Notably, Natur-Al Zero is the company’s aluminum product line that is completely offset, pure and carbon-neutral.

Per management, it is committed to work with its customers for lower and more sustainable carbon products, and respond to the growing demands of customers for responsible aluminum production. Notably, Natur-Al allows customers to substantially reduce or completely offset their product’s carbon footprint.

Century Aluminum’s shares have tumbled 30% in the past year compared with the industry’s 7% decline.

The company reported a net loss of $4.8 million or 5 cents per share in fourth-quarter 2019, narrower than a net loss of $65 million or 74 cents in the year-ago quarter. Adjusted loss per share was 9 cents, narrower than the Zacks Consensus Estimate of a loss of 14 cents.

Net sales declined 10.6% year over year to $435.5 million in the fourth quarter. Nevertheless, the figure beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $416.8 million.

On the fourth-quarter earnings call, Century Aluminum stated that the external environment improved heading into 2020. It has started to witness a pickup in industrial activities across several key global markets. Moreover, the recently-signed U.S.-China trade agreement is expected to support these trends.

The coronavirus outbreak has put pressure on the market price of industrial commodities by affecting global economic activity. Input cost trends have moved uniformly in the company’s favor. Moreover, alumina prices have settled at normalized levels, while carbon prices have continued to decline.

Century Aluminum is exposed to power prices in the United States and Europe. Power prices have seen a declining trend, suggesting a persistent decrease in the cost of power generation.

Century Aluminum Company Price and Consensus

Zacks Rank & Stocks to Consider

Century Aluminum currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).

Some better-ranked stocks in the basic materials space are Daqo New Energy Corp. (NYSE:DQ) , NovaGold Resources Inc. (NYSE:NG) and Commercial Metals Company (NYSE:CMC) .

Daqo New Energy has a projected earnings growth rate of 353.7% for 2020. The company’s shares have rallied 97.6% in a year. It currently sports a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

NovaGold has a projected earnings growth rate of 11.1% for 2020. It currently sports a Zacks Rank #1. The company’s shares have surged 140.2% year over year.

Commercial Metals currently has a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy) and a projected earnings growth rate of 20.7% for 2020. The company’s shares have rallied 21.9% in a year.

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