Alcoa posted mixed quarterly results Monday, as commodities prices dragged on sales ahead of a planned company split.
Shares of Alcoa were 4 percent lower in premarket trading Tuesday in the wake of the report. (Get the latest quote here.)
The metals and materials company reported adjusted first-quarter earnings of 7 cents per share on $4.95 billion in revenue. Earnings fell from 28 cents per share in the prior-year period, while sales slid from $5.82 billion.
Analysts expected Alcoa to post earnings of 2 cents per share on $5.14 billion in revenue, according to a consensus estimate from Thomson Reuters.
Shares of Alcoa, whose report is often regarded as the start of earnings season, dipped nearly 5 percent in after-hours trading. (Click here to track the stock.)
The company also said it cut 600 jobs in its engineered products and solutions segment in the first quarter, with 400 more reductions planned this year. The moves come amid a previously announced effort to lower costs. Alcoa is "evaluating" another 1,000 cuts.
Alcoa is expected to split into two publicly traded companies later this year, though it did not give an exact date. The company plans to separate into "upstream" and "value-add" units amid a divergence of its operations. The value-add company, called Arconic, will contain higher-growth segments like car and airplane part production.
First-quarter revenue in Arconic segments slid 2 percent to $3.3 billion. After-tax operating income rose 8 percent from the previous year to $269 million.
"If you look at this quarter you really see that profits are up in all of the Arconic segments," CEO Klaus Kleinfeld told CNBC's "Closing Bell" on Monday.
Alcoa expects 2016 aerospace sales growth of 6 to 8 percent, down from the 8 to 9 percent estimated in the fourth quarter. It projects auto production growth of 1 to 4 percent.
Kleinfeld highlighted momentum in aerospace and auto. However, the company cut its estimate for 2016 revenue in its Firth Rixson unit to $1 billion to $1.1 billion from $1.6 billion previously. Alcoa acquired the aerospace jet engine part maker in 2014.
"It's very clear we will not be making the number we had originally intended for Firth Rixson this year, but we are working on it," Kleinfeld told CNBC's "Mad Money" in a separate interview Monday.
On "Closing Bell," he also contended Alcoa has increased competitiveness by cutting smelting capacity at some facilities.
After the split, the Alcoa company will house the company's traditional units including bauxite, aluminum and alumina. For the Alcoa segments, third-party revenue fell to $1.7 billion, down 32 percent from the previous year.
Alcoa's earnings release was delayed, and Kleinfeld said the company's provider for releasing the numbers "went dark." Although he didn't specifically name Business Wire, the press release group confirmed to CNBC on Monday afternoon that it is suffering an outage.
Alcoa shares have plunged more than 25 percent in the last 12 months amid a prolonged commodities slump.