Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-07-22
EARNINGS IMPROVE
IN SECOND QUARTER
Many Firms Make Better
ShoWings Than Predicted
by Analysts.
BY PRESTON S. KRECKER.

Special Dispatch TO The Star.
NEW YORK, July 22.-when bust
ness is poor, pessimism naturally Is rife.
The public has an idea that trade and
industry are at very low ebb and that
idea Is probably not far from the truth
On the other hand, perhaps business Is
not as bad as people, think 1t is. An
analysis today of net income of cor
porations which have made their re-
ports covering the first six months OF
the year certainly indicates that.
While profits have been lower than
last year, the average decrease, based
on figures to date, was fairly moderate,
and the earnings of many companies
show an Improvement in the second
quarter over the first quarter.
Second Quarter Gains.
Reports of more than so corporations
were used in this compilation. The
average decline In six months was
shown to have been 1877 per cent. An
analysis of reports of 257 corporations
for the first quarter of the year showed
an average in net income of ~ per
cent. In other words, of the companies
which already have made reports the
improvement in the second quarter
brought the average for the six-month
period up materially above the loss for
the first half of the period.
AS a matter of fact, earnings of cor
porations for the second three months
of the year were materially larger than
has been generally expected by analysis
of statistics on trade and industry. OF
course, comparatively few companies
have as yet issued their statements for
the second quarter. So far, however,
the returns have been relatively favor
able.
The most interesting feature of these
reports already at hand is the large per-
centage of companies that have not
only shown no losses compared with
last year, but actually have reported
gains over results in the prosperous
1929 period. Fully one-third of all the
corporations whose figures have been
used in this analysis earned more in
the first six months of this year than
they earned in the corresponding period
of last year.
One of the most notable instances OF
increased earnings is the American
Telephone & Telegraph Co. Other COM
panies which reported increases
included United Biscuit SUnited Fruit,
White Rock. American Chicle. Wrigley,
SACdIn u WHGdb, sun I'll anu WdluUCI
System. Several companies. although
reporting slightly lower net for the half
year, showed gains in the second quar-
ter. Canada Dry, for instance, had the
largest quarter in its history in the
second three-month period.
Records Broken.
Some companies surpassed all pre-
vious records for business done in the
first half of the year, but for various
reasons did not equal net income of the
1929 period. One notable example of
that class was the General Electric Co.
General Electric billed sales for the six
months which exceeded those of the
corresponding 1929 period by nearly So
100000. Its net income almost equaled
the net for the first half Of 1929, but
fell just a bit short.
On the other hand, some corpora
tons made very poor reports. Four
companies in the list showed deficits
for. the first six months. They were
American La France, Detroit Steel
Products, Lehigh Valley Coal and G. r.
Kinney. None of the companies in the
group showed deficits in 1929.
The list does not include any rail-
roads, but it is we'll known that rail-
road earnings this year have fallen be-
low those of last year Generally speak
ing, food companies, tobacco companies
and beverage concerns have done better
than STEEL motor and other corpora
tons engaged in basic industries.