Topic: Growth Stocks

Wall Street Stock Forecaster Hotline – Friday, October 11, 2013

Article Excerpt

ALCOA INC., $8.32, New York symbol AA, continues to do a good job of cutting its costs in the face of weak aluminum demand and prices, mainly by closing smelters. At the same time, the company continues to expand its more profitable engineered-products business, which makes wings, fasteners and other components for the aerospace and automotive industries. Products like these now account for over half of Alcoa’s revenue and nearly 80% of its earnings. In the three months ended September 30, 2013, Alcoa earned $24 million, or $0.02 a share. That’s a big improvement over the $143 million, or $0.13 a share, it lost a year earlier. If you exclude plant-closure costs and other unusual items, Alcoa’s earnings per share would have jumped 266.7%, to $0.11 from $0.03. On that basis, the latest earnings easily beat the consensus estimate of $0.06 a share. Revenue fell 1.2%, to $5.77 billion from $5.83 billion. Even so, that exceeded the consensus estimate of $5.63 billion. Aluminum…