EARNINGS: On the Upbeat

With the fast recovery of the economy, profits of many a corporation were snapping back faster than anybody had hoped. The upsurge was charted last week in the first batch of year-end reports:

¶ Budd Co. (automobile brake drums, wheels, etc.) will move out of the red and show a 1958 profit because of a "greatly improved fourth quarter."

¶ Maytag will show earnings for 1958 at least 25% higher than the $6,633,292 (or $3.78 a share) it netted in 1957.

¶ RCA's Chairman David Sarnoff reported estimated fourth-quarter profits of 74¢ a share v. 68¢ last year.

¶ Emerson Radio & Phonograph let its stockholders know that profits for 1958 should be ten times greater than the puny $138,431 it netted in 1957.

¶ The hard-hit railroads were steaming back fast. Chesapeake & Ohio earned $51.7 million or $6.36 a share in 1958—the fourth best net in its 122-year history. Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe earned $5,139,849 in November compared to $3,659,613 a year earlier, and New York Central made $2,633,054 in November against a loss of $1,894,625 a year earlier.