First-Quarter Profits Rise at Trimmed-Down Rockwell

Rockwell International Corp., freshly shorn of the aerospace and defense businesses that once defined the company, reported Monday that profits from its remaining electronics and automotive businesses rose nearly 18% in the first quarter.

The company said each of its four operating units reported increases, pushing profits to $179 million, or 82 cents a share, for the quarter ended Dec. 31, up from $152 million, or 70 cents a share, for the same units a year earlier. Rockwell’s graphics, aerospace and defense businesses, all since sold, added $40 million to the first quarter a year ago, for a total of $192 million, or 89 cents a share.

First-quarter revenue from Rockwell’s automation, semiconductor, automotive and avionics and communications divisions rose 9% to $2.6 billion from $2.4 billion a year earlier.

Wall Street greeted the first-quarter report enthusiastically, boosting the stock by $1 a share to $63. More than 555,000 shares changed hands on the New York Stock Exchange.

Rockwell, convinced in an era of declining federal defense spending that its future lay in international commercial electronics, sold its aerospace and defense businesses early last month to Boeing Co. for $3.2 billion.

Donald R. Beall, the company’s chairman and architect of its transformation, said the first-quarter results show that Rockwell has become “the type of company we’ve talked about becoming for many years, one that is much more focused on commercial electronics and international trade.”

About 43% of Rockwell’s business now comes from international trade, and Beall has said that the company intends to push that to 50% in the next few years.

The company reported that its three electronics businesses accounted for 71% of total sales while its auto and truck parts business brought in 29%.

Sales at Rockwell’s fast-growing Newport Beach-based semiconductor operation continued their blistering pace with a 34.4% increase. Operating profits for the unit rose just 1% as the company invested heavily in a number of future product lines in ultrahigh-speed modems, wireless communications and Internet access.

Rockwell’s Wisconsin-based automation unit posted an 8.2% sales hike and an 18% operating profit increase, largely from a boost in sales of high-margin products. The avionics and communications business, headquartered in Iowa, saw a 10.3% sales increase and a 44% jump in operating profit.

The company’s truck and auto parts business, based in Michigan, posted a 7.8% increase in operating profits while sales remained flat.