Although we don't believe in timing the market or panicking over market movements, we do like to keep an eye on big changes -- just in case they're material to our investing thesis.

What: Noranda Aluminum Holding Corp. (NYSE: NOR) popped 13.5% in intraday trading today after the company reported fourth-quarter EPS of $0.40, which compared favorably with the $0.32 consensus estimate, third-quarter EPS of $0.16 and year-ago EPS of -$0.73.  

So what: Higher prices and shipment volumes contributed to sales growth of 50% year-over-year. Earnings also benefited from getting a new facility fully operational and from productivity improvement and cost reduction initiatives.

Now what: Management did not offer specific guidance but stated it expects the benefits of higher prices and fully operational integrated upstream assets throughout 2011 to be only partially offset by higher costs. These comments provide basis for some confidence in the 2011 consensus EPS estimate of $1.52. At a forward P/E ratio of 11.5, Noranda's large discount to the aluminum industry's 14.2 ratio appears attractive.

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