Pratt & Whitney Parent Posts 13% Profit Rise

United Technologies Corp. said Wednesday that its fourth-quarter earnings rose 13%, beating analysts’ estimates, as profit improved at its big Pratt & Whitney aircraft-engine unit.

Net income rose to $187 million, or $1.42 a share, from $165 million, or $1.26, a year ago. The aerospace and industrial products company said gains were especially strong at its Otis, Carrier and Pratt & Whitney units.

Operating income at Pratt & Whitney was up 11% in the quarter and 39% for the year on sales gains of 2% and 6%, respectively, the company said.

Hartford, Conn.-based United Technologies was expected to earn $1.37 a share, based on the average estimate of 13 analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research.

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Strong sales worldwide and new products helped health-care conglomerate Johnson & Johnson post a 23% increase in fourth-quarter earnings.

But American Home Products Corp., the pharmaceutical and chemical concern, saw its profit plunge 80% due to the costs of shutting down its ailing infant-formula business and cleaning up pollution at some chemical plants.

New Brunswick, N.J.-based J&J; earned $465 million, or 72 cents per share, compared with $378 million, or 59 cents per share, during the same period in 1994.

American Home earned $81.7 million, or 26 cents per share, in the fourth quarter, compared with $399.5 million, or $1.30 per share, in the same period of 1994.

Fourth-quarter results were reduced by $308.3 million, after taxes, to pay for cleaning up several former Cyanamid plants and shutting the formula business. Without the charges, American Home said, it would have earned $390 million in the quarter, or $1.25 per share, beating Wall Street estimates.

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Los Angeles-based Occidental Petroleum Corp. said fourth-quarter profit rose about 2.6%, excluding $132 million in restructuring charges.

The company said profit from operations rose to $79 million, or 18 cents a share, from $77 million, also 18 cents, a year ago.

The per-share results were a penny below the average estimate of analysts.

Chevron Corp. reported a fourth-quarter loss of $418 million, or 64 cents per share, on revenue of $9.16 billion. A year earlier, the company earned $623 million, or 96 cents per share, on revenue of $9.23 billion.

An accounting change and other special charges took $869 million off its bottom line in the latest quarter.

Bartlesville, Okla.-based. Phillips Petroleum Corp. earned $109 million, or 42 cents per share, on revenue of $3.3 billion in the fourth quarter. In the same period in 1994, the company earned $162 million, or 62 cents per share, on revenue of $3.1 billion.

Without special items in 1995 and ‘94, the company’s profit would have increased 34%.

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Xerox Corp.’s fourth-quarter profit from operations rose a less-than-expected 22% as strong sales in Europe and Brazil offset declining U.S. revenue.

The company said it raised its quarterly dividend 16%, to 87 cents a share from 75 cents, effective April 1. Xerox also approved a 3-for-1 stock split.

The Stamford, Conn.-based copier maker posted profit from operations of $379 million, or $3.30 a share, up from net income of $311 million, or $2.76 in the year-earlier period.

Earnings fell 10 cents below Wall Street analysts’ estimates.

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Compaq Computer Corp.’s profit rose 33% before special items during the fourth quarter and sales jumped 45%, helping to broaden the company’s lead as the world’s largest personal computer maker. But Compaq warned of continued pressure on profit margins.

The Houston-based maker of personal computers reported profit from operations of $323 million, or $1.17 a share, compared with net income of $243 million, or 90 cents, a year earlier. Net income in the latest quarter was $82 million, or 30 cents a share, after a non-tax-deductible charge of $241 million, or 87 cents, stemming from the purchase of NetWorth Inc. and Thomas-Conrad Corp.

Compaq was expected to earn $1.18 a share, based on the average estimate of analysts.

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Bausch & Lomb Inc. said fourth-quarter profit from operations rose 70% percent to $21.9 million, or 40 cents a share, from a restated $12.9 million, or 22 cents, a year ago.

The maker of eye wear and contact lenses said it restated financial results for both 1993 and 1994 amid an internal investigation into the accounting of sunglass sales in Southeast Asia in 1993 and an investigation by the Securities and Exchange Commission into whether the company inflated 1993 sales of its contact lenses.

Bausch & Lomb also said it will try to sell its sagging Interplak toothbrush line.

The per-share results for the latest period came in shy of the 44-cent average estimate.

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H.F. Ahmanson & Co. shares fell 10% after the company reported fourth-quarter earnings that fell short of Wall Street expectations.

Irwindale-based Ahmanson, which operates Home Savings of America, said its net income rose 52% to $60.7 million, or 41 cents a share, from $39.9 million, or 23 cents, a year earlier.

The average forecast was for earnings of 50 cents a share.

At a Glance:

General Dynamics Corp. said it earned $64 million, or $1.01 a share, in the fourth quarter, up from net income of $58 million, or 92 cents, in the year-ago period. . . . ITT Corp., reporting its first earnings as an entertainment company, said fourth-quarter profit rose to $68 million, or 59 cents a share, from $25 million, or 22 cents, a year earlier, exceeding Wall Street estimates.