In that respect, they said, the firm might have taken a significant step on the road to better earnings.

The market wants to see better earnings in the third and fourth quarters.

Some of yesterday's strongest stocks were supported by better earnings.

The larger companies have had much better earnings in the last few quarters.

"In both cases, Disney began demanding better earnings, and the families had to sell."

That works out nicely for the corporations, which can report better earnings as a result.

The company said better earnings from the F-18 program brought the increase.

But now they would be out of the way, allowing the company to report far better earnings in quarters to come.

"And with companies reporting better earnings, that should make for a good year."

"We expect them to have better earnings this year than last year."