June 21, 2005 -- The Quarterly Financial Report for Q1-2005 was released by the Commerce Department, and profits before income taxes for NAICS 323 was down significantly, a decrease of -$247 million for the quarter, or -27% compared to Q1-2004. This is not good news, as Q1 is usually the most profitable quarter of the year, and Q2 and Q3 have lower sales revenues because of seasonal factors. Last year, Q1 was the best quarter of the year; that had better not be the case this year. Look for pressures to consolidate and cut costs to become yet stronger. These kind of data make me very concerned about capital expenditures for the year. An upside surprise would certainly be welcome, but I don't believe it's in the cards. http://www.census.gov/prod/www/abs/qfr-mm.html ----- Premium Access Members at WhatTheyThink.com can view more analysis in Dr. Joe Webb’s weekly column on Friday, appropriately called "Fridays with Dr. Joe".