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The Daily Dow LEXINGTON, KY. (October 23): DuPont beat analyst expectations for its third quarter by 10 cents a share, posting $1.68 a share before an after-tax charge related to crop damage and legal expenses from the recall of the fungicide Benlate. In the same period a year ago, DuPont earned $1.38 per share.
The key business segments fueling DuPont's strong quarter were oil exploration and production (via its Conoco unit) and higher chemicals volume
Despite the strong earnings today, DuPont and many of its Dow cohorts suffered on the announcement by AT&T that it has hired John R. Walter of R. R. Donnelley to be the new president and chief operating officer, the apparent successor to AT&T's current CEO Robert E. Allen.
Walter was a big surprise to most of the people watching Ma Bell's fortunes of late, but as much of a surprise was the fact that AT&T is setting up the transition from Allen to his successor to be an 18-month process. Much of the speculation of late has centered on George Fisher, CEO of Eastman Kodak, as Allen's replacement. But after the announcement today, the rumors are that Fisher balked at an 18-month transition period. Investors weren't real pleased with the announcement, sending AT&T down to a new 52-week low during the day and shaking up the rest of the Dow components in the process.
Although the Dow recovered more than half of its intra-day losses late in the afternoon, it still closed down some 25 points. A nervous day for Wall Street, with those measuring their performance on a much shorter horizon than we Fools prefer finding reasons aplenty to get worked up over. Transmitted: 10/23/96 Today's Dow Numbers
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