Good Showings

Bad earnings reports did not shock the U. S. stockholder last week. With business at such a low ebb there were indeed cases where small earnings instead of deficits made good news. Reports issued up to last week for the most part showed losses from last year. The public utilities came the closest to maintaining their 1930 earning power, while the rails continued to show an alarming drop in gross and net, in many cases falling short of covering fixed charges. Most industrials showed big declines but companies which have made good showings this year include:

Perfect Circle Co. reported nine-month earnings of $736,000 against $528,000. This company is the oldest and biggest maker of piston rings. Successive names of the company have been: Railway Cycle Manufacturing Co. (1891); Light Inspection Car Co. (1900); Teetor-Hartley Motor Co. (1914); Indiana Piston Ring Co. (1918-28). Its plants are in Hagerstown, Newcastle and Tipton, Ind., turn out 5,000,000 rings a month. Its directorate includes: C. N. Teetor, R. R. Teetor, Lothair Teetor, D. H. Teetor, H. C Teetor, Nellie Teetor, D. Teetor, M. O. Teetor, H. Teetor and J. Teetor.

National Air Transport earned $248,000 in the third quarter against $229,000 in the same period last year, is now only $7,000 behind 1930.

Cream of Wheat, favored by low commodity prices, ran only slightly below 1930--$1,133,000 against $1,283,000.

Bohn Aluminum & Brass showed $913,000 for the first three quarters against $692,000. But the September quarter resulted in a $12,000 loss.

Telautograph, maker of equipment for transmitting written messages, continued its upward trend with $276,000 against $259,000. The company rents, never sells, its devices.

Zonite Products Corp., maker of famed Zonite germicide, also Forhan's toothpaste, Larvex & Argyrol, earned $781,000 against $679,000.

City Ice & Fuel, with 145 ice plants chiefly in the Middle West, showed $4,981,000 against $4,809,000. Last week Pendleton Dudley, public relations director of big American Ice Co., told Eastern Ice Association that their industry has been affected less by Depression than any other large industry. He said tonnage sales for the first nine months were up in most sections, partially because commercial uses, including refrigerator cars, are increasing. However, sales of artificial refrigerators this year have boomed as well.

National Distillers Products Corp., whose products include medicinal spirits, lacquer solvents, maraschino cherries, extracts sold to the ice cream & candy trade, olives and fruit, earned $376,000 against $344,000.

Lambert Co. (halitosis) fell behind last year as widely predicted, but the drop was small: $5,361,000 against $5,668,000.

General Foods Corp., the combine formed around Postum, likewise showed a small decline with $14,407,000 against $15,515,000. Another food company to show tenacity was National Biscuit (Uneeda) with $14,532,000 against $16,768,000, but this was the first year in its history to show a decline from the previous year.

An extremely good report was issued by Chrysler Corp., whose Plymouth is bringing stiff competition to Ford and Chevrolet. For the nine months Chrysler earned $3,771,000 against $2,492,000. For the September quarter it turned in profits of $1,518,000 against a $916,000 loss in the same period of 1930. On the same day, the General Motors Corp.'s statement appeared. Its nine-month net of $97,455,000 compared to $131,403,000 last year, while the September quarter's $13,000,000 was scarcely more than half of last year's third-quarter's $25,000,000. While a comparison of General Motors' nine-month results with those of Chrysler indicate a reverse trend at the moment, GM's resistance to Depression has been outstanding in the industry. In 1929 its net for common was off 10% from 1928 while Chrysler's fell 27.6% despite a large gain in sales. Last year GM's $141,000,000 net was off 40.7% from 1929 whereas Chrysler's small earnings represented a 98.9% drop from the year before. Chrysler has cut its former $3 dividend to $1, while G-M last week was still on its regular $3 basis.

Philip Morris & Co., Ltd., Inc. earned $250,000 in the six months ended Sept. 30, compared to $195,000 in the corresponding period last year.

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