Alcoa Inc. (NYSE:AA) earnings surpass analyst forecasts, sees demand doubling by 2020 - CENX

Aluminium maker Alcoa Inc.(NYSE:AA) kicked off the U.S. third quarter earnings season on Tuesday with earnings and revenues that were above analysts’ expectations.

The company also said that aluminium demand would double from the current levels going to 2020.

"We see the aluminium market as fundamentally strong … but the market has forgotten the fundamentals and sentiment dominates the pricing," said the company's CEO Klaus Kleinfeld on CNBC.

The company reported 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.

Excluding cost related to charges for the settlement of a civil lawsuit and environmental remediation of a New York state river, earnings were 3 cents per share, down from 15 cents a share in the year-ago period.

Revenue fell 9 percent to $5.83 billion from $6.42 billion a year ago.

Analysts had expected the company to break even on earnings and report $5.54 billion in revenue.

Alcoa earnings come as a good harbinger for the earnings season which is generally expected to dismal with analysts expecting S&P 500 companies to post a 2.3 percent decline in earnings.

U.S. stocks had fallen on Tuesday as investors braced themselves for one of the worst quarterly earnings since late 2009, in the aftermath of the financial crisis that rocked the country.

However, shares of AA slumped 4.33% to $8.73 at mid day session. Century Aluminum Co(NASDAQ:CENX) also lost 2.72%,