"We still are believers in the aluminum story," Merrill Lynch analyst David Lipschitz said, "but note Alcoa's relatively muted leverage to commodity price movement."

The firm said investors should now turn their attention to Alcoa's ability to bring earnings to the bottom line. Merrill Lynch said to pay attention to the company's flat-rolled products segment, which is sensitive to the North American and European industrial climate, while the engineered products and solutions segment is exposed to construction activity and automotive and heavy truck build rates.

"Weakness in these areas should weigh on Alcoa's performance," Merrill Lynch said. "Also, Alcoa has execution risk in terms of turning around performance at its Russian flat-rolled operations."

Shares of Alcoa, a Pittsburgh-based aluminum producer and component of the Dow Jones Industrials, closed Wednesday at $41.70. Greg Saulnier gs/pc

COPYRIGHT

Copyright Thomson Financial News Limited 2007. All rights reserved. The copying, republication or redistribution of Thomson Financial News Content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Thomson Financial News.

MMMM

About Alcoa

Alcoa is the world leader in the production and management of primary aluminum, fabricated aluminum and alumina combined, through its active and growing participation in all major aspects of the industry. Alcoa serves the aerospace, automotive, packaging, building and construction, commercial transportation and industrial markets, bringing design, engineering, production and other capabilities of Alcoa's businesses to customers. In addition to aluminum products and components including flat-rolled products, hard alloy extrusions, and forgings, Alcoa also markets Alcoa(R) wheels, fastening systems, precision and investment castings, and building systems. The Company has 97,000 employees in 34 countries and has been named one of the top most sustainable corporations in the world at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. More information can be found at www.alcoa.com

SOURCE: Alcoa

Alcoa Inc.
Editorial Contact:
Kevin G. Lowery, 412-553-1424
or
Investor Relations:
Greg Aschman, 212-836-2674

Previously, Mr. Claro spent more than 20 years with Alcoa Inc., ultimately serving as Vice President, Operations of Alcoa Global Packaging. In that capacity he oversaw the operations of 86 manufacturing facilities and eight research-and-development centers in the United States, Latin America and Europe. As President of Alcoa China & Korea Holding Company from 2002 to 2005, Mr. Claro led significant strategic growth in the region and was responsible for eight joint ventures and wholly owned operations, including aluminum smelting, refining, rolling and hard alloys extrusions. Prior to that, he served as President of Alcoa Europe Extrusions; Managing Director of Alcoa Northern European Extrusions; Managing Director of Alcoa Latin America's Cargo-Van Business Unit; and Marketing and Product Development Director of Alcoa Latin America's Semi-Fabricated Products Division among other positions.

"With his broad-based experience in successfully managing global operations, Galdino has demonstrated an ability to improve business performance, foster long-term profitable growth and unite operations under a common vision," said Demetriou. "We look forward to the benefit of his leadership at Aleris Americas."

Mr. Claro is an Expert in Quality from the International Labour Office (I.L.O.), Nichi-Chiba, Japan, and holds a Mechanical Engineering undergraduate degree from the University of Taubate, Sao Paulo, Brazil.

Aleris International, Inc. is a global leader in aluminum rolled products and extrusions, aluminum recycling and specification alloy production. Headquartered in Beachwood, Ohio, a suburb of Cleveland, the Company operates 47 production facilities in North America, Europe, South America and Asia, and employs approximately 8,800 employees. For more information about Aleris, please visit our Web site at http://www.aleris.com

(Logo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20050504/CLW056LOGO )

Web site: http://www.aleris.com

William Sedlacek of Aleris International, Inc., +1-216-910-3522 ; Photo:
NewsCom:  http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20050504/CLW056LOGO, AP Archive:
http://photoarchive.ap.org, PRN Photo Desk, photodesk@prnewswire.com