Quaker Oats’ Profit More Than Doubles

Quaker Oats Co. said Thursday that its profit more than doubled in the latest quarter despite a drop in sales due to lower prices for breakfast cereals and heavy spending on its struggling Snapple beverage line.

Concerns over Snapple, which Quaker bought nearly two years ago for $1.7 billion, sent the company’s stock down $1.75 to $34.625 on the New York Stock Exchange.

“The stock is declining because they didn’t announce any restructuring in Snapple, and some people had speculated they would,” said William Leach, analyst at Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette.

Overall, Quaker Oats reported net income for the third quarter of $133 million, or 98 cents a share, up from $61.5 million, or 45 cents per share, last year. The latest quarter’s results, however, included a $133.6-million pretax gain on the sale of its frozen foods business and $23 million in pretax restructuring charges.

Excluding these factors, Quaker’s third-quarter net income was 53 cents a share, which was well above Wall Street estimates of 46 cents a share, according to analysts’ estimates.

Chairman William Smithburg said Snapple was expected to report an operating loss for 1996.

While he declined to give a specific projection, he said the 1996 operating loss for Snapple likely will be narrower than the loss it reported in 1995, although the business will not generate a profit.

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Airplane maker Boeing said third-quarter earnings rose 13%, bolstered by strong sales of its commercial aircraft in the U.S. and Asia.

The world’s largest maker of jet planes earned $254 million, or 74 cents a share, meeting Wall Street expectations.

A year earlier, Boeing earned $225 million, or 66 cents a share.

Seattle-based Boeing delivered 54 aircraft to customers in the third quarter, up from 51 in the 1995 quarter. Most went to airlines in the U.S. and Asia. UAL’s United Airlines, for one, took delivery of nine aircraft during the quarter.

At a Glance:

Lucent Technologies reported stronger-than-expected profit as revenues grew nearly 25% on brisk sales of telephone equipment in its first quarter as an independent company. Lucent, the phone equipment and high-technology company spun off by AT&T; last month, said it earned $255 million, or 40 cents per share, in its final fiscal quarter of 1996. That was up sharply from profit of $13 million, or 2 cents a share, that Lucent would have earned if it was independent in the year-ago quarter.

Procter & Gamble said that its fiscal first-quarter earnings rose 9% to $979 million, or $1.39 per share, compared with $896 million, or $1.27 a share, a year ago.

Transamerica’s third-quarter income from operations rose 8% to $114.9 million, or $1.68 a share, from $110.8 million, or $1.55 a share, a year earlier.

Dow Chemical said third-quarter earnings fell 18% to $469 million, or $1.92 a share, from $571 million, or $2.15 a share, a year ago.

Ben & Jerry’s Homemade said its third-quarter earnings fell 28% to $1.8 million, or 25 cents a share, compared with $2.52 million, or 35 cents, a year ago.

Beneficial said third-quarter earnings rose 13% to $67.9 million, or $1.22 a share, from $60.1 million, or $1.10 a share, in the year-earlier period.

Borland International reported a fiscal second-quarter net loss of $9.8 million or 31 cents per share, compared with net income of $2.6 million or 8 cents a share, a year ago.

Softkey reported third-quarter profit from operations of $20.9 million, or 47 cents a share, compared with net income of $10.0 million, or 36 cents, a year ago.

Chiron reported third-quarter net income of $11.8 million, or 7 cents per share, compared with a net loss of $145.1 million, or 90 cents per share, in the year-ago quarter.

K-Swiss said that third-quarter net income of $281,000, or 25 cents a share, compared with net income of $1.01 million, or 98 cents a share, last year.

Chubb said third-quarter earnings rose 4.2% to $164.9 million, or 93 cents a share, from $158.2 million, or 89 cents a share, a year earlier.

Pitney Bowes said its third-quarter profit increased 16% to $116.7 million, or 78 cents a share, compared with profit from continuing operations of $100.7 million, or 66 cents a share, a year ago.

Browning-Ferris Industries said fiscal fourth-quarter earnings fell 30% to $67.0 million, or 33 cents a share, compared with net income a year ago of $95.9 million, or 48 cents.