Alcoa Inc (AA): The Industrial Metals Market Is Showing Signs of Life

Still, with a short float of 9% and trading at five-year lows, the company is an investment for the Fool-hardy investor only. Analysts currently expect earnings of $0.53 per share, excluding extraordinary items, for this year, and $0.77 for 2014 – putting the company on a forward P/E multiple of 14.9 for 2013.

Foolish summary

All in all, the industrial-metals market is starting to show some signs of life as the whole world slowly pulls itself out of economic darkness. The reliance on Chinese growth that has supported these companies during the past few years seems to be dissipating and a more equal balance of demand from around the world is filling order books. That said, the sector still remains an area for long-term, high- risk investors.

Still, out of the three companies above, I believe Ternium could be the safest, due to the fact that it is currently trading at a discount to the value of its assets, has little debt and is predicted to grow EPS 22% this year.

Fool contributor Rupert Hargreaves owns shares of Ternium S.A. (ADR). The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned.

The article The Industrial Metals Market Is Showing Signs of Life originally appeared on Fool.com.

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