(Reuters) - Alcoa Inc <AA.N> reported a fourth-quarter profit on Tuesday as cost cuts helped offset a drop in aluminum prices.

For the fourth quarter, the company reported net income of $242 million, or 23 cents per share, compared with a net loss of $191 million, or 18 cents per share, in the year-ago period.

Sales fell 1.5 percent to $5.89 billion.

The Pittsburgh-based company expected global aluminum demand to rise 7 percent in 2013.

(Reporting By Ernest Scheyder; Editing by M.D. Golan)