Alcoa reported stronger first-quarter earnings on Wednesday that beat analysts' expectations.

The company was benefitted from its strategy of moving more business to higher-value products for the aerospace and automotive industries.

The company reported net income of $195m for the quarter to the end of March, compared with a loss of $178m the same time a year ago. Quarterly revenues rose 6.7% to $5.82 billion, below the $5.94 billion projected by Wall Street analysts.

During a conference call on Wednesday CEO Klaus Kleinfeld said, "The good news is, we have invested in the innovation and in the growth on the aerospace side. And it's happening better than we expected".

The engineered products' sales, which include aerospace and automotive business, accounted for 29% of Alcoa's total. The company mentioned that engineered product business boosted profit than its traditional mining and smelting business.

Alcoa is increasing the production of aluminum sheet and other products as automakers are trying to reduce the weight of vehicles in order to meet stricter fuel-economy standards.

The company predicted that the revenue from the sale of aluminum auto sheet is expected to double this year to $660 million. It will reach more than $1 billion by the end of next year.

The company's factory in Davenport, Iowa, which was expanded to manufacture more automotive sheet used in car and truck bodies is running at full capacity. Kleinfeld said that an expansion of a similar plant in Alcoa, Tenn., is anticipated be complete this year and already is booked out.

Alcoa has acquired two companies, Firth Rixson and Tital that make components for jet engines. The company announced a $1.5 billion deal to buy RTI International Metals Inc., which is a Pittsburgh-based manufacturer of titanium products used in aircraft.