Chrysler, AT&T, Coke post strong earnings
NEW YORK, Jan. 28--To a corporate landscape spoiled by signs of decay and despair at IBM, Sears and other large victims of recession comes a fresh breeze full of good news.</br></br>Chrysler Corp., AT&T and Coca-Cola Co. all reported healthy quarterly earnings today, a reward for quality improvements and brutal cost cutting that many analysts predict will soon put the U.S. economy on its strongest footing in years.</br></br>"The U.S. economy is emerging from its recession quicker than the rest of the world because we have been quicker to downsize and restructure," said John Mueller, vice president and chief economist of Lehrman Bell Mueller Cannon Inc. of Arlington.</br></br>Companies such as Chrysler that shunned the lure of business in what are now shaky European economies did well, while firms that are heavily involved in Europe, such as General Motors Corp. and Ford Motor Co., did not. Companies such as AT&T and Coca-Cola that focused on quality and aggressive promotion found their profits rising, while companies slow to adjust, such as International Business Machines Corp. and some defense contractors, did not.</br></br>"The good managers were early in appraising the situation, setting goals for where they wanted to be and peeling off layers between the operating divisions and the decision makers at the top," said Robert H. Stovall, president of Stovall/21st Advisers Inc.