STUDIES IN SECURITIES 
tions. This period too marks the real return to normal conditions 
after almost a decade of war influences with abnormally favor- 
able and adverse effects ($25 a share earned on the common in 
1917 and under $3 a share on the preferred in 1921). 
The record of net income and of earnings per share of common 
stock shows the trend in the past five years: 
Net Income 
0 er erate rs .$17,761,000 
B25. sea oe ns oe 8 15,091,000 
1924...%.% 11,187,000 
1928. vereernrs 8,925,000 
1922. 5,918.000 
Surplus for Common 
$23.38 
19.17 
12.60 
8.89 
3.98 
American Smelting & Refining Co. is the largest smelting and 
refining business in the world. This phase of its operations is 
about six times its mining activity in size. Its properties are in 
the United States, Canada, Alaska, Mexico, Peru and Chile. Its 
principal products are copper, lead, silver, zine, gold, and coal, 
together with numerous semi-finished products and by-products. 
Developments in the last five years include the Rosita coke plant 
with numerous by-products and the Parral unit in Mexico, a con- 
centrator for gold and silver and smelter for copper in Peru, 
and a copper rod and wire plant at Baltimore, among others. 
Recent years’ capital expenditures are increasingly reflected in 
income account. 
Capitalization consists of $48,746,900 5% and 6% bonds, $50,- 
000,000 7% non-callable preferred stock, and $60,998,000 common 
stock. As of December 31, 1926, current assets were $91,137,000 
(including cash and U. S. Government securities of $34,520,000) 
and current liabilities were $19,674,000, a splendid position. 
Asset value of the common stock after deducting all reserves was 
$140 a share. Charge-offs from earnings (before surpluses shown 
in above table) were made for depreciation, obsolescence and ore 
depletion aggregating $24,037,000 in the four years 1923-6 or $40 
a share on the common stock, $10 per annum. 
After suspension in the war deflation year 1921, dividends were 
resumed in mid-1923 at a $5 rate, stepped up to $6 in February, 
1925, to $7 in November, 1925, and to current $8 in November, 
1926. With no change in the number of shares outstanding over 
the years, earning power above the $20 a share a year level, and 
recent capital expenditures steadily increasing in productivity, 
the American Smelting & Refining situation seems to contain 
probability of stock dividend or split, following other old-line 
industrials. The widening base of its operations makes for more 
stability in results in coming years than appears in the past record. 
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