Beckman Reports Quarterly Earnings Decline

FULLERTON — Beckman Instruments Inc. said Monday that its earnings and revenue declined for the first quarter.

The company, which makes medical instruments used in biological and diagnostic analyses by hospitals and laboratories, reported a profit of $6.2 million, or 22 cents a share. That compared to earnings of $9.3 million, or 32 cents a share, for the same period a year earlier.

Much of the drop in income, however, was attributed to accounting changes required of public companies regarding employee retirement benefits and income taxes, the company said. Without the changes, Beckman would have posted earnings of $10.2 million, or 36 cents a share, for the quarter.

“It’s a onetime item that Wall Street tends to disregard,” said Robert C. Dunne, an analyst with Martin Simpson & Co. brokerage in New York. “The earnings are where they were expected to be.”

Beckman’s stock closed Monday at $21 a share, down $1, in trading on the New York Stock Exchange.

Dunne said the loss of enthusiasm was a reaction more to Beckman’s sales figures than to its earnings. Revenue fell 5% to $201.7 million from the first quarter of 1992. That was because of changes in currency exchange rates as the U.S. dollar strengthened, as well as a soft economy in European countries, the company said.

Beckman, based in Fullerton, has 6,900 employees around the world.