Alcoa Kicks-Off Earnings Season (AA)

PUBLISHED: 09 Jul 2012 @ 22:14 | Comments (0) | More info about Ed Liston

Aluminum producer Alcoa Inc. (NYSE:AA) kicked off the earnings season after-market close today. The company reported second-quarter earnings and revenue that beat Street estimates.

Expectations ahead of the earnings season have been low as companies faced a challenging macro environment in the second quarter. In fact, several companies in the S&P 500 lowered their forecasts for the quarter in the last few weeks.

For the second quarter, Alcoa reported a net loss of $2 million, compared to net income of $322 million reported for the same period last year. AA’s adjusted earnings for the quarter were $0.06 per share, compared to $0.32 per share reported in the second quarter of 2011. Analysts were expecting Alcoa to report adjusted earnings of $0.05 per share.

Revenue slipped 10% to $5.96 billion, but beat Street estimates of $5.81 billion.

Chairman and CEO Klaus Kleinfeld said that AA was able to maintain revenue strength and solid liquidity by driving high profitability in its mid and downstream businesses and by cutting costs and improving performance in its upstream businesses. Kleinfeld said that Alcoa is capitalizing on accelerating demand in high-growth end markets such as aerospace and automotive.

Alcoa stock rose more than 1% initially in after-hours trading as investors digested the company’s quarterly results. The stock, however, gave up most of its initial gains, and at last check, it was trading 0.11% higher at $8.77.

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