Alcoa vs Kaiser Aluminum
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The short version
- Alcoa is the larger business, with $12.8B of revenue in fiscal 2025 against $3.4B for Kaiser Aluminum, about 3.8 times as much.
- Kaiser Aluminum grew revenue faster (11.5%, against 7.9%).
- Alcoa turned more of its sales into free cash flow (4.4% FCF margin, against −0.8%).
- Alcoa earned a higher return on the capital invested in it (18.0%, against 7.7%).
- Investors pay more for each dollar of Kaiser Aluminum’s earnings: a P/E of 8.3x against 7.9x for Alcoa.
| Latest fiscal year | AA · FY25 | KALU · FY25 |
|---|---|---|
| Size | ||
| Market cap | $10.1B | $1.8B |
| Revenue | $12.8B | $3.4B |
| Free cash flow | $567M | −$25.5M |
| Net income | $1.2B | $113M |
| Growth | ||
| Revenue growth | 7.9% | 11.5% |
| 5-year growth | 6.7% | 23.5% |
| Share count change | 22.0% | 1.9% |
| Profitability | ||
| Gross margin | — | 13.1% |
| Operating margin | — | 5.6% |
| Net margin | 9.0% | 3.3% |
| FCF margin | 4.4% | −0.8% |
| Return on capital | 18.0% | 7.7% |
| Return on equity | 20.5% | 14.3% |
| Balance sheet | ||
| Net debt | $851M | $1.1B |
| Net debt / EBITDA | 0.5x | 3.4x |
| Dividends and buybacks | $104M | $51.3M |
| Valuation & quality | ||
| P/E | 7.9x | 8.3x |
| Piotroski F-score | 6 | 7 |
Revenue
FY16
AA $9.3B
KALU $1.3B
FY17
AA $11.7B
KALU $1.4B
FY18
AA $13.4B
KALU $1.6B
FY19
AA $10.4B
KALU $1.5B
FY20
AA $9.3B
KALU $1.2B
FY21
AA $12.2B
KALU $2.6B
FY22
AA $12.5B
KALU $3.4B
FY23
AA $10.6B
KALU $3.1B
FY24
AA $11.9B
KALU $3.0B
FY25
AA $12.8B
KALU $3.4B
AA
KALU
Operating margin
FY16
AA —
KALU 13.6%
FY17
AA —
KALU 11.1%
FY18
AA —
KALU 9.1%
FY19
AA —
KALU 8.3%
FY20
AA —
KALU 6.9%
FY21
AA —
KALU 2.5%
FY22
AA —
KALU 0.1%
FY23
AA —
KALU 4.0%
FY24
AA —
KALU 3.7%
FY25
AA —
KALU 5.6%
AA
KALU
Free cash flow
FY16
AA −$715M
KALU $89.5M
FY17
AA $819M
KALU $66.0M
FY18
AA $49.0M
KALU $76.1M
FY19
AA $307M
KALU $172M
FY20
AA $41.0M
KALU $155M
FY21
AA $530M
KALU $21.4M
FY22
AA $342M
KALU −$206M
FY23
AA −$440M
KALU $68.7M
FY24
AA $42.0M
KALU −$13.7M
FY25
AA $567M
KALU −$25.5M
AA
KALU
Return on capital
FY16
AA 0.7%
KALU 11.2%
FY17
AA 8.6%
KALU 7.1%
FY18
AA 12.6%
KALU 10.7%
FY19
AA −3.3%
KALU 9.9%
FY20
AA 2.5%
KALU 6.8%
FY21
AA 11.4%
KALU 4.6%
FY22
AA 6.1%
KALU 0.2%
FY23
AA −5.5%
KALU 6.1%
FY24
AA 3.3%
KALU 4.8%
FY25
AA 18.0%
KALU 7.7%
AA
KALU
Each company's latest fiscal year; fiscal years end in different months. The best value in each row is highlighted where higher (or lower) is clearly better. Not investment advice.