Manufacturers’ Profits Soar 43% in First Quarter

Manufacturing corporations’ after-tax profits averaged 6.3 cents per dollar of sales in the first three months of the year, up a sharp 43% from the fourth quarter, the government reported Monday.

The Commerce Department said U.S. manufacturers’ after-tax profits totaled a seasonally adjusted $39.4 billion in the first quarter, compared to $27.4 billion in the fourth quarter, when profits averaged 4.4 cents per dollar of sales.

After-tax profits totaled $36.9 billion, a 41.3% rise from the fourth-quarter total of $26.1 billion in profits. Revenue climbed a smaller 2.1% in the first quarter to $629.1 billion from $616.2 billion in the fourth quarter.

The combination of rising profits and higher sales boosted the level of profits to 6.3 cents per dollar of sales, an increase of 43% over the fourth-quarter performance of 4.4 cents.

The government said the profit improvement occurred in part because petroleum and chemical companies took large write-offs against profits in the fourth quarter, depressing earnings during that period.