Alcoa reported earnings on October 9 after the market close of .63 per share. As Alcoa stated that the business environment was tougher in the 3rd Quarter due to among other factors the weak dollar, higher energy, costs, the Jamaica facility being closed due to a hurricane, and higher costs for raw materials. The weakness was offset by continued strong demand for China. Alcoa is in the midst of trying to stream line its business to concentrate on the production of aluminum. Over the next year Alcoa will likely sell several of its business lines including its Reynolds consumer product division and its automobile related business. While there will be large charges related to the sell of these divisions, Alcoa should also receive a fair price for them when sold. Alcoa received over $1 Billion from the sale of its 7% stake in the Aluminum Company of China during the 3rd Quarter. Alcoa also announced it would increase its buyback of shares from the planned 10% to 25%. This amounts to around 217 million shares. In selling non-core lines and using some of the proceeds for the stock buy back, Alcoa is positioning itself to either purchase a related aluminum business. When there was speculation of a potential buy out of Alcoa this past spring and summer, there was much discussion that Alcoa would have to either sell or spin-off its non core lines. By already disposing of the non core lines Alcoa could be making itself an even juicier target for a future buyout. Alcoa is a long term holding in my portfolio.