Profit

PALO ALTO, Calif. - A week after ousting Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Carleton S. "Carly" Fiorina for failing to produce the profits she promised, Hewlett-Packard Co. reported yesterday that its fiscal first-quarter earnings were little changed. Revenue rose on holiday printer sales. Net income increased to $943 million, or 32 cents a share, from $936 million, or 30 cents, in the first quarter a year ago, HP said. Sales rose 9.9 percent to $21.5 billion from $19.51 billion, slightly beating analysts' estimates for the quarter that ended Jan. 31. HP, the world's largest printer maker and No. 2 personal-computer company, struggled to boost sales and profit as Dell Inc. became the biggest PC maker and began selling printers.

Sears, Roebuck and Co. yesterday reported higher net income in the second quarter, after a deferred charge. Perhaps more significant, the retailer said its key merchandising group rebounded from a loss in the first quarter and posted a profit.The company's net income rose 0.5 percent to $239.2 million, or 70 cents a share, after a deferred tax charge. Net had been $237.9 million, or 60 cents a share, in the corresponding part of last year. Before the $64.1 million deferred tax charge, this year's net income was up 27.5 percent, to $303.

Westinghouse Electric Corp., the Pittsburgh-based parent company of Westinghouse Electronic Systems, which is adjacent to Baltimore-Washington International Airport, reported yesterday slight increases in its net income for both the fourth quarter of 1990 and the full year.In the three months that ended Dec. 31, the company's net income increased 5 percent, to $284 million, or 97 cents a share, from $270 million, or 92 cents a share, in the fourth quarter of 1989, Westinghouse said in a statement.

Environmental Elements Corp., a Baltimore-based company that designs and builds air pollution control equipment, stanched the flow of red ink in the latest three-month period, but the company said it would be several months before it reaches a healthy profit.Because of cost-cutting measures taken in April, the company was able to eke out a small profit of $334,000, or 5 cents a share, in its first fiscal quarter, which ended June 30. That compared with a loss of $1.7 million, or 24 cents a share, a year ago.The actions taken in April included the laying off of 30 workers -- about 10 percent of the work force -- and the elimination of the annual dividend of 3 cents a share.

About 5,100 workers at Bethlehem Steel Corp.'s Sparrows Point plant received profit-sharing checks averaging about $2,400 -- up about 71 percent, or $1,000, from last year, the company said yesterday."

BURBANK, Calif. -- Like a beast turning into a prince, Walt Disney Co. has transformed a disappointing 1991 into a lucrative 1992, coming within a shade of setting a record profit.Bolstered by such hit films as "Beauty and the Beast," "Sister Act," "Father of the Bride" and "The Hand that Rocks the Cradle," Disney yesterday posted a 29 percent jump in earnings, to $223.7 million in the fourth quarter, which ended Sept. 30, on revenue of $2.1 billion.For the year, Disney earned $816.7 million, up 28 percent from a year earlier, on $7.5 billion in revenue.

The Ryland Group Inc. of Columbia said yesterday that its fourth-quarter profits fell 78 percent, reflecting the weakness of the market for new homes. But the statistics that the second-biggest homebuilder in the nation released along with the earnings might contain early signs of an industry recovery.Ryland said it earned about $3.9 million, or 26 cents a share in primary earnings and 24 cents per fully diluted share, during the last three months of 1990. In 1989, it earned $1.31 a primary share and $1.20 a fully diluted share during the fourth quarter.

Provident Bankshares Corp., Maryland's largest independent bank, reported yesterday that profit dropped 23 percent in the second quarter, mostly because it charged off a $3.5 million commercial loan to a government contractor that failed to repay. Chief Executive Officer Gary N. Geisel emphasized that the Baltimore bank, which outsources its residential-mortgage business, has not been hurt by the wave of defaults on subprime mortgages that is rattling the banking sector nationwide. While Provident makes some home-equity and consumer loans that could be considered subprime, meaning the borrowers have poor credit histories, those are a "modest" part of the overall portfolio, he said.

The Columbia Association, which manages Columbia's recreation facilities and cultural programs, projects a year-end profit of about $1.7 million, according to the association's second-quarter financial report released yesterday.That profit would be very similar to last year's, said Robert Krawczak, vice president of administrative services for the Columbia Association. The profits are used to help pay for capital projects in the unincorporated city.The association is "experiencing one of the best years ever operationally," said association President Padraic Kennedy in the report.

Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Maryland posted profits of $19.8 million for the second quarter, which ended June 30, a 141 percent increase compared with the same period last year.The state's largest health insurer also said yesterday that it boosted reserves in the quarter by 40 percent, to a five-year high.Much of the increase stemmed from the sale last month of part of a health-care subsidiary, which in turn allowed Blue Cross to appraise the business and add the higher value to its reserves.