Poor Fourth Quarter for 2 Major S&Ls; : Thrifts: Great Western loses $97.3 million, while Home Savings sees its profit drop 76%. State’s real estate slump is cited.

Still reeling from problems in the California real estate market, one of the nation’s largest savings and loans showed a surprisingly large loss in the fourth quarter of 1992, while another posted sharply lower earnings.

Both thrifts, Great Western Bank and Home Savings of America, blamed their problems on higher reserves set aside to cover possible loan losses in California. Great Western posted a particularly large increase.

Great Western Financial, the parent company, said it lost $97.3 million in the fourth quarter, while H. F. Ahmanson & Co., parent of Home Savings, said its quarterly profit plunged 76%.

The reports came one day after two of California’s biggest commercial banks--First Interstate Bancorp and Wells Fargo & Co.--reported stronger-than-expected earnings in the fourth quarter and big drops in their number of bad loans.

Analysts said commercial banks have aggressively boosted their loan-loss reserves in recent years, but many savings and loans have not been willing to do so until recently.

“I was a little surprised by Great Western’s report, but Ahmanson’s (was) in line with what most of us expected,” said Joe Jolson, an analyst with Montgomery Securities in San Francisco.

Irwindale-based Ahmanson said it earned $15.5 million in the fourth quarter, compared to $64 million in the final three months of 1991. Ahmanson earned $204.1 million for the entire year, down 17% from $246 million in 1991.

Richard H. Deihl, Ahmanson’s chairman and chief executive, blamed the lower earnings on what he called “one of the worst real estate recessions in California history.”

The company’s reserves for loan losses rose to $93.2 million in the fourth quarter, from $61.9 million.

“The real estate slump has been hurting everybody, and Ahmanson is no exception,” said E. Gareth Plank, an analyst with Dean Witter Reynolds. “You’re seeing the S&Ls; raise their (loan-loss) reserves because they’re finally facing reality.”

Great Western added a staggering $335 million to its loan-loss reserves, ending the year with $640 million. At the end of 1991, it had only $171 million set aside for potential losses.

Great Western said $450 million of the reserves stems from several older, mid-size commercial properties that the bank repossessed and is now trying to sell. Great Western stopped loaning money for commercial real estate in 1987.

“I think Great Western wanted to get the bulk of the bad news out of the way all at once, while Ahmanson is sort of stringing it out quarter by quarter,” Jolson said. “I wouldn’t worry about Great Western unless there’s another big increase in its reserves.”

Chatsworth-based Great Western earned $85 million for the entire year--down 71% from the $298 million it made in 1991.

In another report, Los Angeles-based Coast Savings Financial, parent of Coast Federal Bank, said its fourth-quarter earnings fell 67%, but noted that profits in the final quarter of 1991 were boosted dramatically by a one-time gain from the sale of its branch offices in San Diego.

Coast Savings Financial said its fourth-quarter earnings totaled $3.4 million, or 21 cents a share. That was only a third of the $10.2 million, or 63 cents a share, it had earned a year earlier. For the year, Coast’s net earnings totaled $27.4 million, or $1.67 a share. That was off 34% from a 1991 net of $41.7 million, or $2.62 a share.