Alcoa Misses Profit Target, but Revenue Beats

Alcoa (AA Quote) opened up the first-quarter earnings season on Wall Street by reporting profits that fell short of analysts' estimates, though revenue was better than had been expected.

The aluminum company had quarterly earnings of $303 million, or 37 cents a share, down from $662 million and 75 cents a share in the year-earlier period. Excluding items, Alcoa would have earned 44 cents in the most recent quarter, falling 4 cents short of the consensus projection of analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial.

Revenue declined to $7.38 billion in the quarter from $7.91 billion last year, but exceeded the forecast of $7.18 billion. ...