It was the sort of day for Alcoa
Let's review the bidding here: On Wednesday, Alcoa's shares slid by 8% on the basis of a warning that its second-quarter earnings would be hurt by $0.02 or $0.03 a share, following an explosion at Apache Energy's
At about the same time, a JPMorgan analyst dropped the company's rating to neutral from overweight (would that he do the same for me), noting that new CEO Klaus Kleinfeld's decision not to trim off some of its business won't be to investors' liking. Kleinfeld assumed his position just last month, and so the analytical whining could be a tad premature.
But those scribes who stopped there in their explanations of Alcoa's Wednesday shellacking are, in my opinion, exhibiting the attention span of a tsetse fly. In reality, Alcoa is sitting about where it ended last week, including a run-up that preceded the Wednesday drubbing. That run-up likely reflected reports that Brazil's big mining and metals company Vale
By most early reports, Alcoa -- along with Freeport-McMoran
That's not to say, however, that Alcoa is inactive or unattractive. After being bested by Rio Tinto
Beyond that, Alcoa produces a product that is in increasing demand. For that and a host of other reasons, the company bears Foolish watching amid the frenetic pace of mining and metals consolidations. Affection from Vale isn't yet out of the question, nor, ultimately, is attention from the acquisitive likes of BHP Billiton
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