El,
Article in today's WSJ about CPQ's cut in Asia projections... As for that market cap, yeah, pretty high. If you listen to the folks on the Dell thread, they are ready for a couple more splits, it seems they expect to see Dell up there with GE and Microsoft shortly... GTW has had quite a move, hope we parallel, it's gone from 25 to 67 pretty quick...
Compaq Expects to Stay Profitable
In Asia, but Lowers Sales Target
Dow Jones Newswires
SINGAPORE -- Compaq Computer Corp.'s Asia-Pacific unit Friday
lowered its sales target in the region amid the region's continuing financial
crisis, but said it will remain profitable.
Compaq Computer Asia Pacific Pte. Ltd. generates about 5% to 6% of
Houston-based Compaq's global sales. Unit sales in the region fell 15%
during the second quarter ended in June, as global sales soared 36%.
Industrywide, continued weakness in Asia, currency issues, PC inventory
problems, and pricing pressures are just some of the woes that computer
giants faced in the second quarter.
Compaq said it will cut costs and excess
inventories to maintain its profitability in the
region. It declined, however, to give an
indication of its profits in Asia. Year-ago profit
figures weren't available.
Meanwhile, Compaq plans to make cuts in the 4,200-strong
sales-and-marketing work force in Asia. The company pointed out that it
was a combined work force as a result of Compaq's acquisition of Digital
Equipment Corp. Compaq said it will release details of a specific amount
of job cuts at the unit at a later date.
Earlier this week, the parent company reported a net loss of $3.63 billion
for the second quarter, compared with a year-ago profit of $257 million.
Revenue rose 5.7% to $5.83 billion.
Looking forward, Compaq said there is a lot of uncertainty in the third and
fourth quarters in Asia.
In Indonesia, business has been hurt dramatically compared with the
pre-crisis days. The company's personal-computer shipments to the
country have tumbled between 70% and 80% since the crisis started.
Officials said even Singapore's PC market is starting to contract.
Company officials declined to give details about other countries in the
region.
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