Reuters/Jason Reed
Just after the closing bell, Alcoa will report its second-quarter results. As usual, the aluminum giant will unofficially kick off the busiest reporting season on Wall Street.
Analyst are expecting a year-over-year drop in Alcoa's profits and revenues. Their median estimate is for adjusted earnings per share of 9 cents, according to Bloomberg, down from 19 cents a year ago.
Revenues are forecast at $5.27 billion, which would be down from $5.90 billion a year ago.
Investors will be looking out for updates on the company's split into two public companies announced last September, although any meaningful news is unlikely, according to BMO Capital Markets.
Alcoa plans to create the Upstream Company, focused on extracting from the ground, and Value-Add Company, which would focus on downstream operations that turn the raw material into consumer-friendly products.
RBC Capital Markets analysts are betting that higher aluminum and alumina prices would provide a small lift to Alcoa's earnings and to its downstream business.
"Our scenario analysis indicates that at current commodity prices and currencies Alcoa is well-funded through 2018 assuming the company can refinance its debt maturities," Fraser Phillips wrote in a recent note.
We'll have full details of the earnings results once they cross, so refresh this page for updates.