Alcoa 2025 performance: Revenue jumped 15% in Q4, supported by record output at five aluminium smelters

Failing initially doesn’t mean failing overall - it just means something needs to be fixed, and that’s what summarises the whole of Alcoa’s financial report card. Alcoa started the year well, but after that it mostly went quiet. The business didn’t really improve again until the last quarter, which is what ended up saving the year. Alcoa President and CEO William F. Oplinger said, “Reflecting on 2025, we maintained our pace of delivering on key operational, strategic, and capital allocation objectives, while setting numerous production records. We continue to build on our positive momentum through disciplined operational and financial execution, along with strategic initiatives to maximise value creation.”

If we look at the numbers, revenue started strong. In the first quarter, Alcoa pulled in USD 3.36 billion, enough to make it look like the rebound was finally for real. But that didn’t last. By Q2, revenue slipped to USD 3 billion, dropping more than 10 per cent. Things didn’t fall off a cliff after that, but they didn’t pick up either - Q3 landed just barely lower at USD 2.99 billion. Momentum was nowhere to be found. Then, Q4 flipped the whole story around. Revenue shot up to USD 3.44 billion, a 15 per cent jump that made it the best quarter of 2025. All in, Alcoa closed the year with USD 12.83 billion in revenue, up from USD 11.90 billion in 2024 - a USD 936 million boost and almost 8 per cent growth.

Earnings bounced around too. Net income peaked early at USD 548 million in Q1, then dropped off a cliff in Q2 to just USD 164 million - a 70 per cent plunge. Things started to pick back up in Q3, rising to USD 232 million, then softened a bit in Q4 at USD 226 million.

Even with those swings, the turnaround was obvious: Alcoa finished 2025 with USD1.17 billion in net income, compared to just USD 60 million the year before, that’s USD 1.11 billion more in the bank.