Vale Q1 Profit Down - Quick Facts

(RTTNews) - Brazilian mining company Vale S.A. (VALE) said that its first-quarter net earnings attributable to stockholders declined to $2.515 billion or $0.49 per share from $3.109 billion or $0.60 per share in the year ago quarter. Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected the company to report earnings of $0.54 per share. Analysts' estimates typically exclude special items.

After excluding net effects of foreign exchange and mark-to-market of shareholder debentures, net income amounted to $2.045 billion, down from $3.096 billion last year. Underlying earnings per share declined to $0.40 from $0.60 in the same quarter last year.

Gross operating revenues for the quarter dropped to $9.682 billion from last year's $10.860 billion. Wall Street expected revenues of $11.23 billion.

Looking forward, the ramp-up of ongoing projects reinforces its confidence that the Base Metals segment is set to achieve its EBITDA target of $4 billion in 2016.