AA - Sector: Basic Materials---Industry: Aluminum

[setravis]

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Alcoa, Inc.
201 Isabella Street
Alcoa Corporate Center
Pittsburgh, PA 15212 5858
United States - Map
Phone: 412-553-4545
Fax: 412-553-4498
Web Site: http://www.alcoa.com

DETAILS  
Index Membership: Dow Jones Composite
Dow Industrials
S&P 100
S&P 500
S&P 1500 Super Comp
Sector: Basic Materials
Industry: Aluminum
Full Time Employees: 87,000


BUSINESS SUMMARY  
Alcoa Inc. engages in the production and management of primary aluminum, fabricated aluminum, and alumina worldwide. It involves in the technology, mining, refining, smelting, fabricating, and recycling of aluminum. The company's products include precision castings, and aerospace and industrial fasteners. Alcoa offers flat-rolled products, such as sheet and plate, foil products, and can reclamations; extruded and end products, including extrusion and architectural products; auto engineering products; and automotive components. Its products are used in aircraft, automobiles, commercial transportation, building and construction, oil and gas, defense, and industrial applications. The company has bauxite mining interests in Australia, Brazil, Guinea, Jamaica, and Suriname. It has a strategic cooperation agreement with the Peoples Government of Henan Province in China to jointly establish projects for the fabricated and primary aluminum industry. Alcoa was founded in 1888 and is based in New York, New York.

[setravis]

AA has had a basing period, that is now over...
AA is the waiting for the proper market conditions to move forward and that time will come during the July earnings period, this one is a keeper. As the economy rebounds AA will move accordingly and quickly. With divedend cuts and restructuring already in place, their earnings will cause a significant move in the stock price on the next quarter.
I suggest making your bets on this one early.
(No Brainer for the $20 range)

Cup With Handel (Continuation) Pattern...


52wk Range: 4.97 - 41.75
Volume: 47,480,808
Avg Vol (3m): 45,845,600

Technicals
Most Actives

Last Price Quote is:
12.79%above 13-day MA
24.17%above 50-day MA
RS Rating: 84 

Fundamentals
Key Data:
Market Cap (M): $10,658.58 
P/E Ratio: 35.71 
PEG Ratio: -2.24 
Next Earnings: 07/08/2009
Last Analyst Rating: Buy

[setravis]

There's Good Money in Metals...

The metals markets have come alive of late. And while the sector's future is often difficult to predict, I'm inclined to believe that there's money to be made in them there mines and mills.

Take copper, for instance. After falling off a proverbial cliff from roughly $4.00 a pound to well under $1.50 in the second half of last year, the price has moved slowly but steadily upward, based largely on demand from China.

Chinese demand is typically seasonal, normally declining precipitously after April. But this year has been different. Chinese copper demand held in nicely through May, a key factor in the continuation of those slow price increases, which now have reached the low $2.30s

The results have been beneficial to the likes of Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE: FCX), the world's biggest publicly traded copper company, and Southern Copper (NYSE: PCU). Freeport's shares have run from the mid-teens at their low late last year to close at $58.96 on Tuesday. At the same time, Southern Copper has moved from just over $9.00 a share to $23.90 at the close of yesterday.

Other metals are participating in the surge as well. Aluminum, for instance, has moved up 11% thus far in June, reaching a five-month high -- a big reason for the near-double in Alcoa's (NYSE: AA) shares this quarter. The company has been joined in its upward trek by smaller Kaiser Aluminum (Nasdaq: KALU).

And then there's the Asian turmoil in steel. China is by far the largest importer of iron ore -- a key component in steelmaking -- and Brazil's Vale (NYSE: VALE), Rio Tinto (NYSE: RTP), and BHP Billiton (NYSE: BHP) control the majority of the world's iron ore market.

A couple of weeks ago, amid sliding global steel production, Rio reached an agreement with Japan's Nippon Steel for a 33% drop in iron ore prices. Other steelmakers have joined Nippon, but the Chinese manufacturers still are holding out for at least a 40% discount from last year's price. The results will indeed be fun to follow.

So the action definitely isn't slowing in the minerals and metals markets. Given recent history and share price changes, I'm inclined to suggest that traders watch this sector closely, perhaps keeping an especially close eye on Freeport, which I think clearly has room to run, and Alcoa, which appears to be just getting started.

[setravis]

updated chart look...
In an uptrend with aluminum going up in price. Good earnings report.


Technicals
Most Actives

Last Price Quote is:
6.30%above 13-day MA
13.13%above 50-day MA
RS Rating: 81 


the 1 year chart...

[setravis]

Base Metals Continue Uptrend...

Looking ahead, base metals are likely to accumulate gains with the Fed announcement continuing to maintain pressure on the dollar. However, with a mixed bag of data releases, the metal complex gains may be capped. Major economic data releases include the payrolls data with non farm payrolls for October estimated to increase by 60,000 as compared to a decline of 95,000 in the earlier month. The unemployment rate for October is forecasted at 9.7% marginally above 9.6% recorded earlier.

Pending home sales for September is likely to come in at 2% as compared to 4.3% earlier. Consumer credit for September is seen at a deficit of negative $3.5 billion as compared to $3.3 billion deficit in August.

Copper
Copper for three-month delivery increased 2% to $8,769 per metric tonne on the London Metal Exchange (LME), touching its 28-month high, as the Federal Reserve's bond purchasing plan weakened the dollar and boosted the economic outlook. Inventories accumulated 1,250 tonnes to 367,325 tonnes, retreating back from its 52-week lows.
Southern Copper(SCCO) closed at $45.13 on Thursday, finding support at $44.04 and resistance at $45.72. Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold(FCX) closed at $103.89, with support and resistance at $101.18 and $105.28, respectively. Teck Resources(TCK) closed at $47.74, with support at $46.98 and resistance at $48.18.


Aluminum
Aluminum for three-month delivery climbed 0.9% to $2,480 per tonne. Inventories narrowed down by 4,450 tonnes to 4.29 million tonnes, touching its 52-week low.
Alcoa(AA) closed trading at $13.60 Thursday, finding support and resistance at $13.43 and $13.70 respectively. Century Aluminum(CENX) closed at $14.80, with support at $14.53 and resistance at $14.99. Kaiser Aluminum(KALU) closed at $46.79, finding support at $45.54 and resistance at $47.46.

Nickel
Nickel for three-month delivery was up 0.7% to $24,680 per tonne. Inventories were up 396 tonnes to close at 129,126 tonnes.

Zinc
Zinc for three-month delivery climbed 2.2% to $2,568 per tonne. Inventories added 1,350 tonnes to close at 633,500 tonnes, touching its 52-week highs.

Lead
Lead for three-month delivery accumulated 1.2% to $2,560 per tonne. After hitting 52-week highs for two consecutive days, the lead inventories shed 425 tonnes to 202,525 tonnes.

[setravis]

This is what a classic Double Bottom (Reversal) Pattern looks like...
Price action and volume...Bullish


Day's Range: 16.21 - 16.59
52wk Range: 9.81 - 17.60
Volume: 75,537,483
Avg Vol (3m): 24,484,600
Market Cap: 16.87B
P/E (ttm): N/A
EPS (ttm): -0.28
Div & Yield: 0.12 (0.80%)


Technicals
Most Actives
Percentage Gainer

Last Price Quote is:
9.46%above 13-day EMA
17.70%above 50-day EMA
RS Rating: 89