Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-03-17
COMPANY REPORTS
CLOSELY SCANNED
Stock Market Now Rejecting
Near-Term Prospects
of Industry.
BY CHARLES F. sPEARE.

Special Dispatch to The Star.
NEW YORK, March 17.-Illustrative
Of the present mood of Wall Street is
the attention concentrated on corpora
ton reports covering the calendar year
1880 and the dividend actions based on
those results. OF course, first-quarter
statements will be equally important
from the trading standpoint when they
are available, but now it is only more
or less guessWork as to what these Will
show.
The stock market is not rejecting to
any material extent the longer range
outlook. 1t tried to do that II months
ago and the failure it made then is not
to be repeated this year.
Railway Companies.
OF the dividend announcements, those
of the railways are perhaps the most
important. Sentiment has not recov-
cred from the shock of the cut in the
New York Central rate. On Wednesday
the Baltimore g. Ohio directors meet
and it is expected that the disburse-
ment to shareholders will be reduced
from 81 share annually to So. 1t is
estimated that the road is barely COW
ering the present ST rate and that with
the traffic outlook uncertain, conSerya-
tism will dictate a reduction.
The Reading meeting is set Tor
Thursday of this week and the bacKa-
wanna directors will act on March 20.
The Illinois Central does not take ac-
tion until late in April. There has
been no suggestion Of any change
in the Reading rate, although net
available for the common stock for
1880 was only a trifle above the 81
requirements. There has been some
doubt as to the Lackawanna. Accord
ing to the preliminary income account
for last year, less than 81 share was
available for the capital stock, on which
So is now being paid. When the dlrec-
tors met last December they declared
the regular quarterly dividend Of 81 30.
but took no action on the extra DIS
bursement usually declared at the last
meeting of the year
Whatever the results of these various
meetings, the interesting point is the
extent to which the market has already
discounted the unfavorable situation.
Railroad shares are selling as a group
on a lower capitalization of present
earnings than industrials of the same
investment rating. Whether the de-
cline has gone far enough to put the
list in a position to resist more bad
news remains to be seen.
Copper Firms.
Another important dividend meeting
in the rear future is that Of Anaconda
Copper, also scheduled for March Is.
Anaconda directors have been revising
payments to stockholders downward for
nearly a year. The last payment was
62tb cents a share. $3.50 annual rate,
declared in January and paid in Feb
ruary. Presumably action at the next
meeting will depend upon the outlook
for the metal market at that time. Ana
conda Is in an exceptionally strong
financial position and is said to be the
lowest cost unit in the industry. There
has been some recovery in the market
price of the copper stocks, but they
have still TO reflect any confidence in
the longer term properties.
At the two extremes, as far as market
opinion goes, are the utilities and the
oils. 1t is not dividend return that
gives the utility stocks their speculative
attraction but the hope of benefits to
come from consolidation plans. On the
other hand the high yield which the oil
stocks give at current dividend rates
are no hslp to them marketwise. Trad
ers are so pessimistic as to the over
production situation and the price trend
for petroleum products that in the
opinion of many observers they have
overdone the matter and put the oil
stocks in a strong technical position.
copyright, 1917