Alcoa Inc. (NYSE: AA) has seen its shares climb back out of a deep hole, returning to the high end of their 52-week range of $9.81-$17.60. The company announced last week that it was restarting production at three of its smelters, creating about 260 new jobs. The company expects to boost production by 137,000 metric tons in 2011.

Alcoa’s outlook for 2011 is positive as well, as aluminum on the London Metal Exchange, LME, reached a two-and-a-half-year high on January 4th of $2,485/metric ton. Prices are expected to climb higher as automakers look to increase fuel economy. Reducing a car’s weight will require more aluminum and less steel, and that’s good for the aluminum industry.

The coal mining business, though, is taking a hit from the flooding in Queensland, Australia. Peabody Energy (NYSE: BTU) has said that it expects 2010 EBITDA to be near the middle of its forecast range of $1.7-$1.9 billion. The previous estimate was $1.9 billion. The rains will eventually stop and the mines will re-open. The question remains how long will that take, and will the price for coal continue to rise once the mines re-open. At least one estimate for metallurgical coal has the price rising in the second quarter of 2011 to $250/metric ton, about 20% higher than today’s price. That should be good news for coal miners everywhere, not just in Australia.

Fashion house Liz Claiborne Inc. (NYSE: LIZ) lowered its outlook for the second half of 2010 and the fourth quarter, from an $80 million operating profit to a range of flat to a -$10 million loss. The company blames the weather and very competitive pricing. The weather will change, of course, but the competitive pricing will remain a factor for the apparel business.

Local.com Corp. (NASDAQ: LOCM) reported that it posted an EPS loss of -$0.04 on revenue of $19.9 million, far short of its guidance for revenue of $22-$23 million and EPS of $0.20-$0.21. The company attributed the loss to a reduction in advertising revenue from Yahoo Inc. (NASDAQ: YHOO). Competition for local advertising will heat up even more in 2011, as start-ups like Groupon, Foursquare, and others, like Amazon.com (NASDAQ: AMZN) and Ebay Inc. (NASDAQ: EBAY) compete even harder for local businesses’ advertising dollars.

Skyworks Solutions, Inc. (NASDAQ: SWKS) is not a price mover after the close but it was today after an IBD move.  Shares closed up 2% at $19.13, but the trading volume was over 3X at over 20 million shares.  We have seen prints for 7.3 million shares, some of which may be clean-up prints.  The price change is listed as only 0.1% at $19.15 but that takes the cake for a most active in hours trading.

Integrated Device Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ: IDTI) closed up 3.1% at $5.63 and shares are up almost 4% more at $5.85 on about 100,000 shares in the after-hours session after the company announced a new $255 million share buyback against a $914 million market cap.

Legg Mason, Inc. (NYSE: LM) was hit after earnings showed a 4% drop in net income.  Shares closed up 3.4% at $30.08, but the stock is lower by 3.3% at $29.10 on over 70,000 shares since the closing bell.

Mindspeed Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ: MSPD) is getting drummed in the after-hours trading session.  Revenues grew 8% to $43.3 million and non-GAAP was $0.18 EPS versus $0.15 last quarter… It expects Q4 revenue growth of 1% to 6% to $43.7 to $45.9 million.   Shares are down almost 3.5% at $8.50 on over 20,000 shares in the after-hours.

Plantronics, Inc. (NYSE: PLT) beat its earnings estimates but guidance on revenue was light for next quarter.  This closed up 1.5% at $33.36 but shares are down 4.4% at $31.90 on more than 20,000 shares since the close.

Rambus Inc. (NASDAQ: RMBS) was already active in options today and shares closed up over 3% at $19.59.    There have been over 125,000 shares since the closing bell and the stock is up 6% at $20.70 ahead of the NVIDIA ruling.

Sanmina-SCI Corporation (NASDAQ: SANM) closed up 4.6% at $15.86 ahead of the EMS company’s earnings announcement: the company posted a profit on a mixed fanfare in the quarter and its guidance is mostly in-line.  Shares are selling off because this one recovered so much against its trading lows by exponential amounts.  Shares are down 6.3% at $14.85 on about 50,000 shares since the 4:00 PM Close.

Ultra Clean Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ: UCTT) said that Q2 revenue was $105.9 million, up 7.5% from Q1 but up 355.4% from the same period a year ago.  This one is up 10.05% at $10.40 on more than 30,000 shares in the after-hours trading session.

Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ: VECO) closed up 4.6% at $44.69 before earnings and after its halt was lifted the stock is up another 4% at $46.47 on over 250,000 shares.  The company beat earnings estimates and raised guidance, but keep in mind that the 52-week range is $14.06 to $54.50.

Zoran Corporation (NASDAQ: ZRAN) was down 0.1% before earnings but the stock is down 9.3% at $8.86 on almost 100,000 shares since it re-opened after a halt.  Q2 was mixed, but Q3 guidance is failing to live up to expectations.  This one is becoming a serial-disappointment.

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JON C. OGG

The entire list is published.here. Among some of the notables:

Applied Digital Solutions (DIGA)

Atari (ATAR)

Children’s Place (PLCE)

Conexant (CNXT)

EntreMed (ENMD)

Force Protection (FRPT)

infoUSA  (IUSA)

Mindspeed (MSPD)

PixelWorks (PXLW)

QMed (QMED)

Sonic Foundry (SOFO)

Sonic Solutions (SNIC)

TranSwitch (TXCC)

Zila (ZILA)

Douglas A. McIntyre