Topic: Growth Stocks

Wall Street Stock Forecaster Hotline – Friday, October 12, 2012

Article Excerpt

ALCOA INC., $8.69, New York symbol AA, reported better-than-expected revenue and earnings this week. However, aluminum demand in China is slowing. That caused the stock to fall 4%. In the three months ended September 30, 2012, Alcoa lost $143 million, or $0.13 a share. That’s partly because the company agreed to pay $85 million to settle a lawsuit that accused it of overcharging for raw materials. If you exclude all unusual items, Alcoa would have earned $0.03 a share in the latest quarter. That beat the consensus estimate of nil per share. A year earlier, the company earned $172 million, or $0.15 a share. Revenue fell 9.1%, to $5.8 billion from $6.4 billion. Aluminum shipments rose 3.1%, but average prices dropped 17.4%. The company also cut its production by 1.5%. But even so, the latest revenue figure beat the consensus estimate of $5.5 billion. Alcoa now feels that global aluminum demand will rise 6% for all of 2012, down from its earlier forecast…