Alcoa reports surprise profit
(4:15 PM ET) SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) - Alcoa Inc. /quotes/comstock/13*!aa/quotes/nls/aa (AA 14.20, +0.31, +2.23%) reported a surprise third-quarter profit Wednesday afternoon, ending three straight quarters of losses. Net income for the aluminum giant was $77 million, 8 cents a share. In the year-ago period, Alcoa earned $268 million, or 33 cents a share. Sales fell 33% to $4.62 billion from last year's quarter. The results topped Wall Street's expectations. Analysts had forecast Alcoa to lose 10 cents a share on revenue of $4.5 billion. Ahead of the report, Alcoa shares closed up 2.2% at $14.20. The stock has gained 26% in value so far this year, better than the 11% gain for the Dow Jones Industrial Average. |