Business & Finance: Bulls' Pride

No intelligent pessimist, seeking omens and portents of business depression, will allow himself to glance at the recent history of U. S. mail order houses. Balance sheets of Sears Roebuck and of Montgomery Ward are the particular pride of bulls, the dull despair of bears. In 1921, Year of Deflation, Sears Roebuck admitted an operating loss of $16,435,468. And Montgomery Ward showed a loss of $9,887,396. But in 1922, both companies declared net profits of about $5,000,000. By 1927, Montgomery Ward could show profits of $13,127,431, and Sears Roebuck nearly twice as much. Estimating 1928 profits, analysts see large gains over...

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