The robust income report after the market's close Monday sent company shares surging nearly 7 percent to a new 52-week high in late-session trading.

Pittsburgh-based Alcoa, traditionally the first of the Dow Jones' 30 industrials to report each quarter, had net income of $608 million, or 69 cents per share, compared with $260 million, or 30 cents per share, during the same period a year ago. The results included a loss of a penny per share from discontinued operations.

Quarterly sales climbed 16 percent to $7.2 billion, which Alcoa said was the highest quarterly revenue in its history. The company had sales of $6.2 billion in the same period a year ago.

Analysts had forecast revenue of $7.2 billion, but had pegged earnings at 51 cents a share, in a survey by Thomson Financial.

The results included stock option expenses of $20 million, or 2 cents a share.

''It was a great quarter by any measure,'' Chairman and Chief Executive Alain Belda told analysts on a conference call. ''We did not have significant one-time effects as we did throughout the year last year and mainly in the fourth quarter.''

Alcoa was plagued in 2005 by higher-than-expected energy costs and other unforeseen developments, including lowered production at refineries in Jamaica and Texas because of the Gulf Coast hurricanes, an unplanned outage in an Australian smelting plant, strikes at its Spanish operations and restructuring costs.

But on Monday, company officials had no such bad news to report and say the company's future looked strong.

''Our upstream alumina and primary metals businesses, as well as our downstream engineered solutions - led by truck wheels, investment castings, forged products and fasteners - all turned in record performances this quarter,'' Belda said. ''Our aerospace and commercial transportation markets are particularly robust this year, and we expect overall market conditions to remain strong.''

The earnings report came after Alcoa earlier Monday announced a joint venture with a Chinese firm to make aluminum brazing sheet near Shanghai.

Alcoa is spending more than $95 million for a 70 percent stake in the company, with the rest controlled by Shanxi Yuncheng Engraving Group. Alcoa will supply 50,000 metric tons of the rolled metal sheet from the plant, mostly to Asian auto makers.

Alcoa shares rose 33 cents to close at $32.83 Monday on the New York Stock Exchange, then jumped another $1.77 in early after-hours trading to $34.60 a share.