Alcoa (NYSE:AA) Can't Do Much But Hope and Wait

Alcoa (NYSE:AA) has done the things it needed to do to keep the company healthy, especially cutting costs throughout the recession.

But with the recession continue to batter the U.S. economy, and manufacturing down, there's very little in the near term Alcoa management can do, except to wait and hope.

It's all about aluminum demand and pricing for Alcoa, and in the near term nothing stands that changes the reality that demand will continue to remain down, along with prices.

Alcoa is scheduled to announce third-quarter earnings on October 7, and analysts don't see anything happening there that will change the outlook.

Expectations are they will generate a small profit for the quarter. Possibly around 6 cents a share.

All Alcoa can do now is wait for aluminum prices to go up significantly. So will shareholders in the company.