Alcoa delivered quarterly earnings and revenue that topped analysts' expectations on Monday, citing a continued transformation to downstream aerospace and automotive markets.
The metals maker reported fourth-quarter adjusted earnings per share of 33 cents, up from 4 cents a share in the year-earlier period, and beating analysts' forecast. Revenue also beat expectations at $6.38 billion, up from from $5.59 billion a year ago.
Wall Street had expected Alcoa to deliver quarterly earnings per share of 29 cents on $6.04 billion in revenue, according to a consensus estimate from Thomson Reuters.
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"Our strong fourth quarter capped a pivotal year as we significantly accelerated Alcoa's transformation," CEO Klaus Kleinfeld, said in the Alcoa earnings release. "As we built out our value-add businesses, we gained profitable share across exciting downstream growth markets and captured aerospace and automotive growth in the midstream. On the commodity side, our hard work reshaping the portfolio continues to pay off with improved performance for the 13th quarter in a row. In 2014 we delivered Alcoa's strongest operating results since 2008; we enter 2015 on solid footing, poised to continue transforming and growing."
The company said 2014 saw its strongest full-year operating results since 2008. In 2014, Alcoa reported net income of $268 million, or $0.21 per share, compared to a net loss of $2.3 billion, or $2.14 per share in the prior year, the company said.
Kleinfeld highlighted that all of Alcoa's three main business—downstream, midstream, and commodities—saw major successes in 2014.
"We're really accelerating the transformation, and it's showing in the fourth quarter numbers and its showing in the year-over-year numbers, and that's good," Kleinfeld told CNBC's "Closing Bell" just after the earnings announcement.
Alcoa shares rose more than 1.5 percent in after-hours trading.
Beyond the successes of 2014, Kleinfeld told CNBC "2015 has an opportunity, even in light of all the volatility, to become a decent year."
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The firm projected a 7 percent rise in global aluminum demand for 2015, and "another strong year" of 9 to 10 percent growth for global aerospace sales.
Strong order volumes for Boeing and Airbus help justify these projections, Kleinfeld said.
Kleinfeld also highlighted Ford's new aluminum F-150 as a sign Alcoa's automotive business is seeing "a lot of good things going on."
Alcoa marks the unofficial start to the quarterly earnings season. The company is in the midst of a repositioning of its business as it seeks to create a lower cost commodity business and build out its multi-material business.
Over the past 12 months, the company has handily outpaced the broader S&P 500's gains—rising 60 percent.
—CNBC's Katie Little contributed to this report.