Aluminum producer Alcoa Inc. (AA) late Tuesday said it swung to a third quarter loss, hurt by special items, although adjusted results beat Wall Street’s expectations.

The New York-based company reported a third quarter net loss of $143 million, or -13 cents per share, compared with a profit of $172 million, or 15 cents per share, in the year-ago period. Excluding one-time items, adjusted profit was 3 cents per share.

Revenue fell 9% from last year to $5.83 billion.

On average, Wall Street analysts expected break-even per-share earnings, on much lower revenue of $5.54 billion.

On a sour note, AA cut its 2012 global aluminum demand growth forecast to 6%, down from 7% previously. The company said it made the move due to lower demand in China.

Alcoa shares posted small losses in premarket trading Wednesday.

The Bottom Line
Shares of Alcoa (AA) have a 1.31% dividend yield, based on last night’s closing stock price of $9.13. The stock has technical support in the $8.00-$8.50 price area. If the shares can firm up, we see overhead resistance around the $10.00-$10.50 price levels.

Alcoa Inc. (AA) is not recommended at this time, holding a Dividend.com DARS™ Rating of 2.9 out of 5 stars.

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