Investing.com – Alcoa , known for unofficially kicking off the U.S. quarterly earnings season, saw shares tumble more than 5% on Tuesday after reporting disappointing numbers for the third quarter (Q3).
Specifically, the aluminum company reported third-quarter earnings-per-share of $0.32, missing consensus expectations of $0.35.
Revenue fell 6.5% from the same period last year to $5.21 billion. Analysts had forecast sales of $5.32 billion.
”Alcoa steered steady and showed resilience in spite of near-term market challenges,” the company’s chairman and chief executive Klaus Kleinfeld said in the statement.
“Looking ahead, fundamentals in key markets remain very solid; commercial aerospace demand is strong with an order book in excess of nine years and the aluminization in automotive continues,” he added.
Nevertheless, markets appeared unimpressed with the results as shares in Alcoa (NYSE:AA) tumbled 5.34% to $29.85 at 8:03AM ET (12:03GMT).
The report marks a disappointing unofficial begging to the Q3 reporting season, though the climax will truly arrive on Friday with earnings from major banks, including the first component of the Dow Jones to report JPMorgan Chase (NYSE:JPM) along with Citigroup (NYSE:C)and recently battered Wells Fargo (NYSE:WFC).
Analysts expect third-quarter earnings will show a 0.7% decline from a year ago, while revenue for the past quarter is expected to have increased 2.5%, which would be the first year-over-year sales increase for S&P 500 companies since the end of 2014.