Earnings At A Glance

By CBSNews.com staff CBSNews.com staff

January 26, 1999 / 10:54 AM EST / CBS

Following are highlights of quarterly earnings reports released Tuesday:

Boeing slid past Wall Street estimates with fourth-quarter results of 48 cents a share. A survey of analysts by First Call had the street's consensus view pegged at 42 cents.

The company posted a $465 million fourth quarter profit, compared to a loss of $498 million, or 51 cents a share, a year earlier. The 1997 loss reflected a special charge of $876 million for commercial aircraft product lines of the former McDonnell Douglas Corp., which Boeing acquired that year.

Revenue rose to $17.1 billion, up 46 percent from $11.7 billion in fourth-quarter of 1997. For the year, Boeing earned $1.1 billion or $1.15 a share, on revenue of $56.2 billion, compared with a loss of $178 million, or 18 cents a share, on revenue of $45.8 billion in 1997.

Coca-Cola said it earned 24 cents per share in its fiscal fourth quarter, in line with a survey of analysts by First Call but lower than last year's 33 cent-per-share figure.

Fourth quarter net income was $597 million vs. $817 million last year, a 27 percent dip, on operating revenue of $4.5 billion vs. $4.7 billion last year. The company's 1998 earnings per share came in at $1.42 versus year-ago earnings of $1.64 per share.

McDonald's said it earned 64 cents a share in the fourth quarter. First Call's poll of analysts had predicted as much. Revenues rose 7 percent. In addition, the company laid plans for a two-for-one stock split and hiked its dividend.

The fast food chain reported net income rose 9 percent to $447.1 million from $410.9 million, or 58 cents a diluted share, in the comparable period a year earlier.

Merck, the pharmaceutical concern, netted $1.16 a share in the fourth quarter, matching most analysts' expectations according to First Call. That was 15 percent better than the year-ago period.

The company said it earned $1.4 billion in the fourth quarter, up 13 percent from the $1.24 billion or $1.01 in the year-ago period. Revenue rose 21 percent to $7.53 billion from $6.23 billion.

For the year, Merck earned $5.25 billion or $4.30 a share, 14 percent more than the $4.61 billion or $3.74 a share in the previous year. Revenue rose 14 percent to $26.9 billion.

Merck reported strong sales of its cholesterol-reducing drug Zocor, blood-pressure drug Prinivil, and prostate treatment Proscar.

Schering-Plough said higher sales of its antihistamine Claritin and its antiviral/anticancer drug Intron pushed its fourth quarter profit up 22 percent to $419 million or 28 cents a share compared with $343 million or 23 cents a share in the previous year. Revenue rose 16 percent to $2.1 billion from $1.8 billion.

For the year, Schering-Plough earnings increased 22 percent to $1.8 billion or $1.18 a share compared with $1.4 billion or 97 cents a share. Revenue rose 19 percent to $8.1 billion.

Texaco Inc. reported a net los of $213 million, or 43 cents a share, in the fourth-quarter due to low oil prices and currency losses in Asia, compared to a profit of $623 million, or $1.12 per share, in the same period of 1997. Quarterly revenues tumbled 35 percent to $7.81 billion from $12.05 billion.

Results included one-time charges of $305 million, including write-downs of inventories and other assets. In the fourth quarter a year ago, net income was boosted by a one-time gain of $193 million from the sale of assets.

Not counting the various one-time charges, Texaco's income fell to $92 million in the fourth quarter, or 15 cents a share, from $472 million, or 85 cents a share, in the same period a year ago, a drop of 81 percent.

Xerox squeaked past the First Call consensus forecast by 2 cents with its fourth-quarter net of $1.69 a share. Additionally, the company set a two-for-one stock split and raised its dividend.

Digital product sales, improved margins and benefits of a worldwide restructuring helped its profit climb 17 percent in 1998. The company posted a fourth-quarter profit of $615 million, up from $525 million, or $1.46 a share, in the same period a year ago.