Howmet Aerospace (NYSE: HWM) easily topped quarterly expectations, raised full-year guidance, and telegraphed a big boost to its dividend later this year. Investors are buying in, sending shares up 16% as of 11:15 a.m. ET.

Howmet is a collection of jet engine and aerospace component businesses that were cobbled together by Alcoa before being spun out as an independent. The company earned $0.57 per share in the first quarter, it reported today, on revenue of $1.824 billion, topping Wall Street's consensus estimate for $0.52 per share in earnings on sales of $1.7 billion.

Commercial aerospace sales were up 23% year over year, and companywide EBITDA margin at 24% was 100 basis points better than what Howmet had guided for. Free cash flow in the quarter was $95 million, the first time in the company's four-year history as a stand-alone that it has generated positive cash flow in the first quarter.

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Source Fool.com