CompuServe Messages

The Wall Street Journal for Tuesday, April 18, 1989 carried the following on Commodore's 3rd quarter earnings: LONDON–Commodore International Ltd.'s chairman said the U.S. computer maker continued steady profit growth in its fiscal third quarter, and may open a new European computer-factory. A new German factory would help Commodore meet its ambitious European sales target of $1 billion annually by 1992, Commodore Chaiman and Chief Executive Officer Irving Gould said in an interview yesterday. The fast-growing European market is crucial to West Chester, Pa.-based Commodore, providing $591 million, or 67% of corporate-wide revenue, in the fiscal year ended last June 30. Mr. Gould also disclosed that the company is redesigning its popular models C64 and C128D line of home computers. Industry analysts have long forecast the demise of the seven-year-old budget computer line, but Mr. Gould said sales remain strong. New versions under consideration, he said, would have and improved color display but remain compatible with earlier models. For the fiscal third quarter ended March 31, Mr. Gould described as "reasonable" Wall Street analysts' estimates that the company's net earnings per share totaled between 35 cents and 40 cents, or between $11.2 million and $12.8 million. That is a gain of between 25% and 42% on the year-earlier income before extraordinary items of $9 million or 28 cents per share. An extraordinary gain of $600,000 boosted the yearf-ago net to $9.6 million, or 30 cents a share. There weren't any extraordinary items in the fiscal 1989 third quarter, Mr. Gould added. Third-quarter sales, Mr. Gould said, were "on the low side" of analysts' estimated range of $210 million to $220 million. That is up 5% to 10% from the year-earlier $200.3 million. The dollar-denominated resulds, Mr. Gould said, suffered from a 14% rise in the dollar's value against the West German mark since March 1988. He said his comments on the just-ended third quarter were based on preliminary figures. For the full fiscal year ending June 30, Mr. Gould said Wall Street analysts aren't "unreasonable" in forecasting net earnings per share of $2.25 to $2.35, or between $72 million and $75.2 million. That is up at least 28% from the year-earlier $1.75 a share, or $55.8 million. He reiterated previous statements that he expects sales of $1 billion, up 15% from $871 million in fiscal 1988.(End of Story) Note: Compare the $2.25 per share earnings of CBM to the expected $2.50 per share earnings of the $12 Billion a year sales of Rockwell International. It becomes even more impressive.