Oxy’s Income Rises, Despite Dip in Sales

Bucking a tough year for energy companies, Occidental Petroleum Corp. on Wednesday reported modestly improved net income despite lower sales for the 1991 fourth quarter and year.

The year-end report also marked the Los Angeles-based company’s emergence from the weight of large one-time charges primarily incurred in an ambitious restructuring and trimming of non-core subsidiaries. Many of these--from the nation’s largest meat packer to an immense Chinese coal mine--were the legacy of Oxy’s eclectic patriarch, Armand Hammer, who died in 1990.

Fourth-quarter 1991 earnings were $6 million, contrasted with a loss of almost $2 billion in the 1990 fourth quarter, when the big charges were taken. Earnings for all of 1991 were $460 million, contrasted with a 1990 loss of $1.7 billion.

Sales in 1991 were $10.1 billion, compared to $11.5 billion the previous year.

Analysts and the market generally viewed the earnings positively.

“All in all, they’re doing what they said they were going to do in the restructuring,” said Marina Carlson, an analyst with Milwaukee-based Strong/Corneliuson Capital Management Inc. “There’s a lot of value to the company.”

As for Oxy stock, just before Irani announced the restructuring plans in January, 1991, shares were selling at $17. On Wednesday, after the earnings announcement, Oxy’s stock dropped just 25 cents to end at $19.

Earnings, D14