Occidental Profit Decreases 14% as Oil Prices Fall; Sales Slide 15%

Occidental Petroleum Corp. said third-quarter profit fell 14% as oil prices declined and exploration costs rose, but results still beat expectations.

Operating profit fell to $317 million, or 85 cents a share, from $370 million, or $1, a year earlier. Sales fell 15% to $3.29 billion.

Los Angeles-based Occidental was expected to earn 70 cents a share, the average estimate of analysts polled by Thomson Financial/First Call.

Occidental, which produces natural gas in California and Texas, beat estimates because it got a higher price for the commodity than analysts had projected. “We had been receiving a premium for gas in California, but that differential has basically narrowed to almost nothing, and we don’t expect to see that premium in the fourth quarter,” Occidental spokesman Larry Meriage said.

Losing that premium probably will reduce oil and gas-unit earnings by $70 million this quarter from last quarter, Chief Financial Officer Stephen Chazen said during a conference call.

Shares of Occidental rose 41 cents to close at $25.80 on the New York Stock Exchange.

At a Glance

Other California company earnings, excluding one-time gains or charges unless noted, include:

* CNF Inc. had a third-quarter loss as shipments fell at its regional trucking unit, losses mounted at its grounded Emery Worldwide Airlines and a major freight-management customer went out of business. The loss from continuing operations was $10.4 million, or 21 cents a share, compared with profit from continuing operations of $25.4 million, or 47 cents, a year ago, the Palo Alto-based company said. Sales declined 16% to $1.18 billion.

The company said it expects fourth-quarter profit to fall at all units from year-earlier levels.

* Software maker FileNet Corp. of Costa Mesa posted a narrower-than-expected third-quarter loss of $2.2 million, or 6 cents a share, compared with net income of $10.2 million, or 28 cents, a year earlier. Analysts had expected a loss of 16 cents to 23 cents a share. Revenue fell more than 19% to $80.1 million.

* Golden West Financial Corp. said its third-quarter profit jumped 50% to $205.8 million, or $1.28 a share, compared with $137.4 million, or 86 cents, a year ago.

* Newport Corp., which makes devices for testing and assembling fiber-optic products and semiconductors, reported a third-quarter net loss of $25.5 million, or 70 cents a share, which included one-time charges of $39.1 million related to cost-reduction efforts. A year ago, the Irvine-based company earned $11.2 million, or 30 cents a share. Sales declined 15% to $62.9 million.

* 99 Cents Only Stores, which operates 118 discount retail stores in the Western U.S., reported third-quarter profit that matched analysts’ estimates. The company, which is based in Commerce, said operating earnings rose 30% to $11.2 million, or 21 cents a share, from $8.6 million, or 16 cents, in the year-earlier quarter.

Sales rose 32% to $144 million. Same-store sales rose 9.3% in the third quarter from a year earlier.

* Sunglass designer Oakley Inc. said third-quarter net income fell 17% and the company warned that its fourth quarter results will be below expectations as it struggles with a drop in orders from a major customer. Oakley posted net income of $14.4 million, or 21 cents a share, down more than 17% from $17.4 million, or 25 cents a share, a year earlier.

Sales at the Foothill Ranch-based company rose 6.5% to $114 million.

* SanDisk Corp., a memory-chip device maker, had a third-quarter loss of $170.5 million, or $2.50 a share, compared with net income of $25.6 million, or 35 cents, a year earlier. The Sunnyvale company also said it would fire 25% of its work force. Sales fell 61% to $65.9 million.