1 Rockwell International Corp. reported flat operating earnings for the fourth quarter ended Sept. 30.
2 The aerospace, automotive supply, electronics and printing-press concern also indicated that the first half of fiscal 1990 could be rough.
3 In an interview, Donald Beall, chairman, said first-half profit certainly would trail the past year's, primarily because of weakness in the heavy-truck and passenger-car markets.
4 Still, he added, if the industrial sector remains relatively stable, Rockwell should be able to recover in the second half and about equal fiscal 1989's operating profit of $630.9 million.
5 For fiscal 1989's fourth quarter, Rockwell's net income totaled $126.1 million, or 50 cents a share.
6 That compares with operating earnings of $132.9 million, or 49 cents a share, the year earlier.
7 The prior-year period includes a one-time favorable tax adjustment on the B-1B bomber program and another gain from sale of the industrial sewing-machine business, which made net $185.9 million, or 70 cents a share.
8 Sales rose 4% to $3.28 billion from $3.16 billion.
9 Mr. Beall said that he was generally pleased with the latest numbers and cited a particularly strong showing by the company's electronics segment.
10 Overall, pretax electronics earnings soared 12% to $107.9 million from $96.4 million.
11 All four areas had higher revenue for the three months ended Sept. 30.
12 For the year, electronics emerged as Rockwell's largest sector in terms of sales and earnings, muscling out aerospace for the first time.
13 The graphics business, which also was singled out by the chairman as a positive, saw its operating earnings for the quarter jump 79% to $42.1 million from $23.5 million.
14 For the year, bolstered by the introduction of the Colorliner newspaper-printing press, graphics earnings almost doubled.
15 Aerospace earnings sagged 37% for the quarter and 15% for the year, largely due to lower B-1B program profit; the last of the bombers rolled out in April 1988.
16 That was partially offset by the resumption of space shuttle flights and increased demand for expendable launch-vehicle engines.
17 The company also took hits in the fourth quarters of 1989 and 1988 on a fixed-price weapons-modernization development program -- probably the C-130 gunship, according to analysts.
18 For fiscal 1989, the company posted net of $734.9 million, or $2.87 a share, down from $811.9 million, or $3.04 a share, in fiscal 1988.
19 Excluding one-time additions to profit in each year, earnings per share were $2.47, up 7.4% from $2.30 in fiscal 1988.
20 Sales for the year rose 5% to $12.52 billion from $11.95 billion in fiscal 1988.

The aerospace , automotive supply , electronics and printing - press concern also indicated that the first half of fiscal 1990 could be rough .
the first half of fiscal 1990 could be rough .
Why would the first half of 1990 be a tough time, fiscally?