Alcoa Inc., the largest U.S. aluminum producer, said Wednesday it returned to profitability after three consecutive quarterly losses, helped by cost-cutting and rising orders from automakers and other big manufacturers.

The Pittsburgh-based company forecast 11 per cent growth in global aluminum demand in the second half of 2009, with shipments appearing to climb and distributors replenishing low inventories.

Alcoa 3-month chart

Alcoa earned $77 million US, or eight cents per share, for the three months ended Sept. 30. During the same period last year, the company earned $268 million, or 33 cents a share.

Revenue tumbled 40 per cent to $4.6 billion from a year earlier, but was up from the second quarter this year.

The latest results reflected cost-cutting by Alcoa. The company was forced to slash jobs, sell businesses and curb production as aerospace, automotive and construction industries cut their orders late last year amid the global economic downturn.

That pushed up stockpiles and forced down prices. But just last month, Alcoa boosted its annual forecast for global aluminum consumption, citing stronger demand from China.

Excluding restructuring charges, Alcoa's earnings in the latest quarter amounted to four cents per share, easily beating expectations of a loss of nine cents on revenue of $4.55 billion.

Wall Street typically excludes one-time charges in its estimates.