Alcoa delivered earnings on Wednesday that missed estimates, but it beat on revenue. (Tweet this)
The aluminum producer reported second-quarter per-share profit of 19 cents on $5.9 billion in revenue.
Wall Street expected Alcoa to post earnings per share of 22 cents on $5.81 billion in revenue, according to consensus estimates from Thomson Reuters. Alcoa marks the unofficial start of the quarterly earnings season.
Shares of Alcoa were as high as 1.14 percent in extended trading.
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The company's CEO, Klaus Kleinfeld, said in an interview Wednesday on CNBC's "Closing Bell" that there is more good news to come. "We've been able to sign new contracts that bring us down the cost curve, bringing us energy that's cheaper," he said.
Last week, the aluminum maker announced that it would close its Pocos de Caldas smelter in Brazil, which has a capacity below 100,000 tons per year.
"At the same time the thing that gets us equally excited, if not more, is the growth we are creating in really nicely growing markets like the aerospace market and the automotive market," Kleinfeld said.
Alcoa reported revenue was up 1 percent from a year earlier due to growth in aerospace, automotive and alumina, combined with acquisitions.
The company projects steady growth this year across the majority of its end markets. In aerospace, it expects global sales growth of 8 to 9 percent in 2015. The forecast was shifted 1 point due to a slower ramp up in the Airbus A350 and Bombardier C Series.
However, the company is lowering its projection for the year in the heavy duty truck and trailer market to a decline of 4 to 6 percent, from a decline of 2 to 4 percent, due to slower economic growth in Brazil and China.
"China is going from a high-growth economy to a medium-high growth economy," Kleinfeld said. "At the same time for Alcoa, the most important thing is we have to do the things that we control, I cannot control what China is doing but I can control what we are doing and that's our strategy."
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U.S. corporate profits are expected to have fallen 3.1 percent in the second quarter, according to Thomson Reuters estimates.
Metal commodities have been hit hard by high energy costs and semi-fabricated products from China. This has pushed many aluminum producers to cut capacity or shut down completely as London Metal Exchange prices and falling physical premiums show no signs of improving.
Shares of Alcoa have dropped 33 percent year to date.
—Reuters contributed to this report.