Compaq Profit Increases 8% as Sales Jump 45%

Compaq Computer reported Wednesday that its profit increased 8% and sales jumped 45% during the first quarter, exceeding Wall Street expectations and padding its lead as the world’s No. 1 PC maker.

Compaq stock rose after the earnings report was released, and shares in other personal computer makers followed. As the biggest maker of PCs in the world, Compaq’s performance has become viewed as an industry bellwether.

Earnings for the three months ended March 31 totaled $234 million, or 85 cents per share, compared to $216 million, or 80 cents per share, during the first quarter of 1995. Sales were $4.2 billion in the quarter, compared to $2.9 billion a year ago.

Financial analysts had forecast a per-share profit of 82 cents. Compaq’s stock jumped $3.12 1/2 to $47, a 7% jump, in trading on the New York Stock Exchange.

Houston-based Compaq early last month announced that it would accept a lower profit rate for the first half of 1996, cutting prices to meet an internal sales growth target of 35% and grab additional market share.

The company had warned of disappointing earnings in early March as demand from corporate customers waned. The company slashed prices as much as 20% to move out excess inventory. Compaq said Wednesday that inventory fell to $1.93 billion from $2.16 billion at the end of December.

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Lucent Technologies Inc. said its first-quarter loss widened on costs associated with its initial stock sale.

Lucent had a loss of $103 million, or 16 cents a share, more than four times its pro forma loss of $22 million, or 3 cents, in the year-earlier period. The loss was within the range of $100 million to $140 million Lucent predicted in the prospectus for its initial public offering.

The telecommunications equipment maker was recently spun off from AT&T; Corp., the nation’s No. 1 long-distance telephone company.

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Lockheed Martin said its first-quarter earnings rose 10% on improved results from four of its five divisions, even as revenue fell 9%.

The world’s largest aerospace company said net income rose to $272 million, or $1.35 a share, up from profit from operations of $247 million, or $1.23, a year earlier.

Including a charge of $110 million, or 58 cents a share, for Lockheed’s purchase of Martin Marietta in March 1995, the company had net income of $137 million, or 65 cents a share, a year earlier. Wall Street was expecting the company to earn $1.34 a share.

At a Glance:

MCI Communications reported a 21% increase in first-quarter net income of $295 million, 42 cents per share, compared with $244 million, or 36 cents per share, a year ago.

USAir Group posted a narrower first-quarter loss even as a harsh winter caused lower-than-expected revenue in January and February.

Unocal said its first-quarter earnings more than doubled on higher natural gas prices and increased production, rising to $120 million, or 45 cents a share, compared with a net income of $54 million, or 19 cents, in the year-ago period.

Wang Laboratories earned $5 million in its third fiscal quarter, or 4 cents a share, before a special dividend for retiring some preferred stock. The company lost $73.3 million, $2.17 per share, in the same period last year when it acquired assets from Group Bull.

Cirrus Logic reported a wider-than-expected loss for its fiscal fourth quarter of $88.4 million, or $1.38 a share, compared to net income of $18.9, or 29 cents, in the year-ago quarter.

Southern said first-quarter earnings rose 13% to $233 million, or 35 cents a share, from $206 million, or 31 cents, a year ago.

Unisys reported a wider-than-expected first-quarter loss of $13.4 million, or 25 cents a share, compared to net income of $44.6 million, or 9 cents, in the year-ago quarter.

Transamerica said first-quarter earnings rose 13% to $106.8 million, or $1.51 a share, from $94.3 million, or $1.30, a year earlier.

Avon Products said its first-quarter earnings rose 9.6% to $37.7 million, or 56 cents a share, compared to a $34.4 million, or 50 cents a share, for the year-ago period.

Anheuser-Busch said first-quarter earnings rose 27.5% to $275.5 million, or $1.08 a share, compared with $216.1 million, or 83 cents a share, last year.

Greyhound Lines said its losses widened in the first quarter to $21.5 million, or 37 cents per share, compared to a $18.7 million, or 36 cents per share, in the same period a year ago.

DuPont said first-quarter earnings fell 6.3% to $899 million, or $1.61 a share, compared to $959 million, or $1.40 a share a year earlier.

Robert Mondavi said third-quarter earnings rose 10.8% to $58.4 million, or 38 cents per share, compared to $52.7 million, or 44 cents, a year ago.