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A SPOTLIGHT ON FIRST-QUARTER PROFITSAs the punchline goes, are going to believe me or own eyes? While earnings were up a boffo 22%, take out Ford and the gain dwindles to a meager 4% on a 7% sales hike, the smallest revenue increase since the first quarter of 1994. Similarly, remove Ford and the car-and-truck industry wouldn't appear among the sectors with the biggest dollar swing. The food-processing industry also is on that list, thanks to Quaker Oats, which recovered from last year's $1.1 billion Snapple-related loss. On the negative side, Intel's 36% profit drop left the semiconductor industry a loser, while declining crude prices made this a quarter to forget for Texaco, Exxon, and the rest of the oil companies.
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Updated May 7, 1998 by bwwebmaster
Copyright 1998, by The McGraw-Hill Companies Inc. All rights reserved.
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