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NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- Aluminum producer Alcoa kicked off earnings season Tuesday with a third-quarter report that offered investors little hope that corporate results would escape the Eurozone debt crisis.
Alcoa fell short on income, but the company brought in more revenue than analysts had expected for the quarter.
Alcoa (AA, Fortune 500) earned $172 million in continuing operations, or 15 cents per share. By comparison, Alcoa earned 6 cents per share in the same quarter last year. But analysts had expected earnings per share of 22 cents - a mark the company did not meet.
At the same time, Alcoa reported revenue of $6.4 billion, which topped the $6.2 billion expected by analysts.
Alcoa is the first Dow component to report quarterly earnings - and with the economy still struggling, investors will be placing extra weight on reports from corporate America.
Alcoa CEO Klaus Kleinfeld said a drop in aluminum prices and continued uncertainty in Europe made for a tough business environment.
"Aluminum prices fell in the third quarter, but most markets continued to grow," Kleinfeld said in a statement. "With the exception of Europe, we saw growth in our end markets, though at a slower rate than in the first half, as confidence in the global recovery faded."
The company did not change its growth forecast for 2011, keeping it at 12%.
Before the earnings release, Alcoa share were up more than 2% on the day, surging 21 cents to $10.30. The stock fell 5% in after-hours trading.
Corporate earnings will continue to be reported over the course of the week. Pepsi (PEP, Fortune 500) will release its earnings on Wednesday, followed by JPMorgan Chase (JPM, Fortune 500) and Google (GOOG, Fortune 500) on Thursday. 
