Kaiser Aluminum Corporation reported third quarter 2026 net income of $31 million and net sales of $1.2 billion, maintaining its full-year outlook despite a year-over-year decline in reported earnings. The company announced the results on October 21, 2026, from Franklin, Tenn., noting that while adjusted net income rose slightly to $32 million, the bottom line was affected by the absence of favorable metal price lag seen in the prior year period.

Net income per diluted share was $1.84 for the quarter, compared to $2.38 in the same period last year. Adjusted net income per diluted share increased to $1.89 from $1.86 a year earlier. Adjusted EBITDA reached $84 million, representing a 19.1% margin on conversion revenue. Management attributed the modest increase in reported EBITDA to continued strength in customer demand, improved conversion revenue, and favorable pricing and product mix.

Keith A. Harvey, Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer, stated that the results reflected meaningful underlying improvement year over year despite operational challenges and the lack of prior-year metal price tailwinds. He noted that customer visibility continues to improve as conversations focus on future growth and long-term supply requirements.

Net sales increased to $1.215 billion from $844 million in the prior year quarter, driven by higher average realized sales prices and increased shipments. Shipments improved 11% year-over-year. This volume growth was attributed to capacity added at the company's Trentwood facility through its Phase VII investment and the absence of a planned partial outage that had impacted the prior year period.

Conversion revenue rose 25% to $439 million. The increase was primarily due to favorable pricing and an improved product mix.

The company generated $248 million in year-to-date operating cash flow and $176 million in free cash flow for the nine months ended September 30, 2026. Kaiser strengthened its balance sheet by reducing net debt leverage to 2.0x from 3.4x at year-end 2025. Cash and cash equivalents improved to $117 million, and total liquidity increased to $687 million.

Moody's upgraded Kaiser Aluminum's credit rating to Ba3 with a stable outlook. The company declared a quarterly dividend of $0.77 per share.