Wall Street analysts, questioning whether the two upstarts could compete in an industry with such thin profits, began to write their obituaries.

Adding income on investments, the companies still had a combined loss in 1987 and thin after-tax profits the other four years.

The airline still beat Wall Street's expectations and posted a thin profit.

Movie theaters have thin profits in general, Mr. Lamb said.

Fare cuts would clearly hurt the industry's thin profits.

"Take a thin profit," he said, "and never accept an escalation clause in a shipbuilding contract."

Even refiners, who have suffered through two years of very thin profits, are seeing profits double or triple.

It currently projects one of its thinnest profits on sales of just under $100 million.

But it still beat Wall Street's expectations and posted a thin profit.

Interest rates are near zero and demand for new loans is weak, so banks continue to generate only thin profits from their loan books.