How Alcoa Inc. Makes Most of Its Money

Aluminum giant Alcoa Inc. (NYSE: AA) and specialty parts maker Arconic Inc (NYSE: ARNC) split apart in late 2016. That's brought Alcoa back to its roots, so to speak, as an aluminum producer. However, there's more to understand, here, as Alcoa charts its own course into the future. Here's a quick primer on Alcoa today and how it makes most of its money.

Leading up to the November 2016 split of Aloca and Arconic, "old" Alcoa was aggressively acquiring specialty parts business like RTI Metals, which expanded its exposure to both aerospace parts and titanium. But that $1.5 billion deal is just a single example; there were plenty of other acquisitions made as "old" Alcoa attempted to manage through a difficult commodity market by shifting up the value chain.

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Source: Fool.com