Earnings season has officially begun!
After today’s close, Alcoa (AA) reported earnings, after charges, of four cents a share which is a big drop from the 33 cents a share it earned a year ago. Still, Wall Street is excited because Alcoa beat the Street’s consensus of a loss of 9 cents a share. The stock is currently up in the after-hours market.
Alcoa’s sales dropped 34% to $4.62 billion. Alcoa’s earnings surprise may be due to the effects of a weak dollar aiding commodity stocks. Although this is just the first earnings report, we may see similar stories over the course of this earnings season.
As I said before, I urge investors to steer clear of Alcoa. The stock is rated a Sell on Portfolio Grader.