(By Mayur Pahilajani - iStockAnalyst Writer)
Some stocks are likely to make some dents on Wednesday's trading session on New York Stock Exchange and NASDAQ market as they announce earnings after the closing bell today. These companies include Alcoa Inc (NYSE: AA), CalAmp Corp (NASDAQ GS: CAMP), Yum Brands Inc (NYSE: YUM) and Sealy Corp (NYSE: ZZ).
Alcoa Inc (NYSE: AA):
Shares of the company was trading higher on Tuesday's morning session up by 35 cents or 1.93 percent to $18.46. Aluminum producing company Alcoa Inc., which was rising on investors' positive sentiment, is expected to report third-quarter earnings today. The market analysts on Wall Street are expecting the firm's profit to decline for the fourth consecutive quarter; it is projected to report 54 cents a share based on lowering metal prices and dropping demand as credit crisis deepens in the region. Some brokerage analysts forecast the company to post as low as 45 a share in the quarter. The firm had reported net income of 63 cents a share a year ago.
Early last month the firm had announced that it was planning to shut down the remaining 150,000 tons of production at Rockdale, Texas, citing rising costs of power. In the month of June, the firm had shut down smelter with a capacity of 120,000 tons. The analysts are projecting the outlook on metals including aluminum to decline with the slowing down global economies. UBS AG's analyst Brian MacArthur has slashed the price target per share down to $25 from $46, while Goldman Sachs Group Inc. analysts downgraded the firm recently to "neutral" from "buy".
On Monday, the Dow component Alcoa plunged to a 10-year low on overall market sentiment, which pulled down the Dow by more than 500 points and below 10,000 point-level. The firm dropped to $16.70, which is also its new 52-week low. The stock has traded as high as $44.77 over the last 12 months.
CalAmp Corp (NASDAQ GS: CAMP):
The provider of wireless products, services and solutions is expected to get bruised by the global financial slowdown and credit crunch. CalAmp is expected to announce fiscal 2009 second quarter after close of market on Tuesday. Since the overall technology sector is struggling to survive the financial crisis and to deal with dropping demand from Europe and North American companies, the market analysts expect the company to report lower profit.
