Ford Earnings Top $680 Million

The Big Three automakers rolled through an unusually profitable summer, setting a third-quarter earnings record of $2.63 billion.

Ford Motor Co., General Motors Corp. and Chrysler Corp. nearly doubled their net earnings from the same period of 1995, when they earned a total $1.35 billion. The previous record was $2.33 billion in 1994.

Ford said Wednesday that strong performances by its U.S. automotive operations and its financial services group contributed to a $686 million profit in the July-September period.

GM said earlier this week that it earned $1.27 billion, while Chrysler posted a $680 million profit.

Ford said its $686 million profit compared with $357 million in the same period of 1995. Earnings-per-share were 57 cents vs. 28 cents a year ago. Sales increased 8 percent to $34 billion, compared with $31.4 billion a year ago.

The world’s second-largest automaker said its results included a one-time charge of $39 million for early retirements of some salaried employees, and a $76 million gain for the sale of Ford’s USL Capital subsidiary. That netted a gain of $37 million, or 3 cents a share.

In other earnings Wednesday:

Apple Computer Inc. defied Wall Street, returning to profitability in the fourth quarter, a period that had been expected to mark the company’s fourth straight quarterly loss.

Apple earned $25 million, or 20 cents a share, for the July-September quarter, far outstripping analysts’ expectations of losses as deep as 52 cents a share. The results were 58 percent lower than the company’s earnings of $60 million, or 48 cents a share, a year ago.

The results include an adjustment of earlier restructuring charges that cut operating expenses $28 million. But even without the adjustment, Apple still would have returned to profitability, earning $8 million or 6 cents a share.

Revenue fell 23 percent to $2.32 billion from $3 billion but was up $142 million from Apple’s third fiscal quarter.

Portland-based Crown Pacific reported higher third-quarter earnings on improved operating margins at its lumber processing facilities.

The company earned $5.9 million, or 25 cents per share, compared with a profit of $4.4 million, or 24 cents a share, for the same three months in 1995.

The profit margins for Crown Pacific facilities increased 33 percent compared with the third quarter of last year, said Peter W. Stott, president and chief executive. Crown operates mills in Coeur d’Alene and in Bonners Ferry, Idaho.

The improved earnings reflect higher lumber prices and higher earnings from sales of logs domestically and in Crown’s export markets.

Crown raised $163.6 million in the quarter through a public offering, using the money to retire other debt and to purchase timberlands.

Stott said he remains cautiously optimistic about lumber prices for the upcoming quarters. Low interest rates should continue to move the housing market forward and create demand for lumber, he said.

Crown’s stock closed Wednesday unchanged at $22.25, a 52-week high.

Portland-based Louisiana-PacificCorp reported a large third-quarter loss, but would have made money if its Alaskan pulp mill had not shut down.

L-P reported a loss of $203 million, or $1.89 a share, compared with earnings of $62.7 million, or 59 cents a share, for the third quarter of 1995.

The company took a $215 million charge on Oct. 7 to reflect the shutdown of its Ketchikan Pulp Co. mill. The one-time amount includes reserves for litigation and settlement of all outstanding class-action suits against the lumber giant. Thousands of homeowners have sued L-P over faulty home siding.

Without the charge, L-P made $12 million, or 11 cents a share. That includes $26 million of losses in the company’s pulp operations. The Ketchikan mill closed after negotiations with government officials over use of timber in the area failed to produce an agreement.

Improved lumber prices coupled with lower prices for panel lumber products tempered the company’s earnings, said Mark Suwyn, L-P’s chairman and chief executive.

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Graphic: Ford earnings