Rockwell’s 1st-Quarter Earnings Fall 13% : Recession: The conglomerate’s sales also drop 13%. Company president blames worldwide economic slump and doesn’t expect improvement anytime soon.

Rockwell International Corp. reported a 13% drop in first-quarter earnings Thursday as the company struggled against a recession in most of its worldwide commercial markets.

Rockwell’s earnings for the three months ended Dec. 31 were $123.3 million, or 54 cents a share, compared to $141.5 million, or 60 cents a share, a year earlier. Sales by the technology and manufacturing conglomerate fell 13% to $2.6 billion, down from $2.9 billion a year earlier.

Rockwell Chairman Donald R. Beall said the results reflect the “significant effect” of the depressed worldwide economy on the company’s commercial businesses. Until the economy recovers, Beall said, it would be difficult to meet the company’s earnings goals in 1992.

Beall said improved earnings in the second half of this year will depend heavily on improvements in the company’s automotive parts and Allen-Bradley subsidiary, which supplies equipment for automating factories. Sales fell at those businesses last quarter, and there is no turnaround evident, Beall said.

The company’s electronics business showed a 6% increase in operating earnings, thanks to better performance in its Anaheim-based Defense Electronics unit. Rockwell, after moving its headquarters to Seal Beach last month, employs about 10,000 people in Orange County and is the largest company based in the county.

Paul H. Nisbet, an analyst for Prudential Bache Securities in New York, said that the weak earnings had been expected, but that he was surprised by the 36% plunge in sales and $1.5-million loss for Rockwell’s graphics division, which makes newspaper printing presses.

In the past several years, Rockwell has saturated the market for the latest generation of offset printing presses, Nisbet said.

Nisbet said he expects per-share earnings of $2.45 for Rockwell’s fiscal year ending Sept. 30, down from $2.57 a year earlier.

The earnings report comes two days after Rockwell announced it would lay off about 1,000 employees in Seal Beach and Downey by the spring, largely because of the slowdown in the company’s business with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.

Last year, Rockwell delivered the space shuttle Endeavour to NASA, the last of the orbiters on order. NASA hasn’t placed expected orders for additional spare parts or shuttle modifications because of funding constraints.

Rockwell hopes to gain additional business by winning work on NASA’s proposed Space Station Freedom, but since that work is divided among more contractors, it is unlikely to generate as much revenue as the shuttle, Nisbet said. He said earnings will likely be hurt this year by a one-time accounting charge of $1.5 billion as the company switches to a new method of accounting for its medical benefits for retirees.

Rockwell’s First Quarter

Sales and earnings both dropped 13% for Rockwell International’s first quarter compared to a year earlier. The company attributed the decline primarily to the depressed worldwide economy.

(Dollars in thousands, except per-share data)

Fiscal Fiscal Percent 1992 1991 Change Total revenue $2,560 $2,938 -13 Net earnings 123.3 141.5 -13 Earnings per share 0.54 0.60 -10

Source: Rockwell International Corp.