Alcoa beats Street view, shares rise slightly

Aluminum producer Alcoa Inc's third-quarter results beat Wall Street estimates as its downstream businesses offset weak aluminum prices and demand for the metal.

Alcoa's stock rose 7 cents to $9.20 in after-hours trading on the New York Stock Exchange.

The company posted a net loss of $143 million, or 13 cents per share, compared with a profit of $172 million, or 15 cents per share, in the same quarter last year, the Pittsburgh-based company said on Tuesday.

But adjusted for $175 million of certain items, including environmental remediation and the settlement of civil litigation, the company reported a profit of 3 cents per share. On that basis, it exceeded analyst estimates for a break-even quarter, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

Revenue fell 9 percent to $5.8 billion, as a result of a 17 percent drop in aluminum prices from the same quarter a year ago, said Alcoa, which is traditionally the first S&P500 company to report quarterly earnings.

(Reporting By Steve James; Editing by Bernard Orr)