Teledyne Stock Takes Big Jump

The price of Teledyne’s stock rocketed $4.50 Monday as the company released its earnings report.

Wall Street wasn’t cheering Teledyne’s $25.4-million loss for 1991. Rather, it was Teledyne’s fourth-quarter income of $28.1 million, or 50 cents a share--well above analysts’ expectations--that caught the market’s attention. Stock market researchers had predicted that the fourth quarter would bring earnings of between 2 cents and 35 cents per share.

Sales for the quarter reached $818.2 million.

Teledyne stock closed at $24.50 per share on the New York Stock Exchange, its highest level in more than a year. In the fourth quarter of 1990, income was $800,000, or 1 cent per share, on sales of $880.4 million.

Teledyne spokesman Berkeley Baker attributed the improved performance during the fourth quarter to sharply lower losses on defense-related research and development contracts. Such pretax losses totaled $5 million during the quarter, compared to $35 million in the same quarter of 1990.

For the year, Teledyne’s loss of $25.4 million, or 46 cents a share, included a charge of $68.9 million for the estimated cost of a restructuring to focus on technology-based businesses, which was approved during the third quarter.

In 1990, Teledyne earned $94.8 million, or $1.71 per share. Those results included income of $25.6 million, or 46 cents per share, from discontinued insurance and finance operations.