Alcoa Kicks Off Earnings Season
Alcoa, the world's largest producer of aluminum, kicked off corporate earnings season after Monday's opening bell, continuing its tradition of being the first Dow Jones component to post earnings. Overall, the company posted a loss from continuing operations of $193 million, or 18 cents a share. Excluding certain items, however, earnings were just $34 million, or 3 cents a share, matching the consensus estimate of economists in a recent MarketWatch survey.
Revenue for Alcoa during 2011's final three months came in at $6 billion, up about 6 percent from a year ago and surpassing the average estimate of $5.7 billion. In 2010's final quarter, Alcoa logged earnings of 21 cents a share on revenue of $5.65 billion. Revenue was down about 7 percent, however, from the third quarter. The chief reason for the dip, sources said, was weak demand in Europe and elsewhere brought on by uncertainty over the region's sovereign debt crisis.
Alcoa was the second-worst performer on the Dow in 2011, with shares plummeting some 40 percent since January 1st. The only Dow component to suffer a worse decline in 2011 was Bank of America, whose shares plunged nearly 60 percent. One of the biggest issues for Alcoa, as well as other major companies in the materials sector, is falling commodity prices and demand for raw materials.
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