Compaq posts fourth-quarter net loss after charge
(UPDATE: Recasts, adds details)
NEW YORK, Jan 23 (Reuters) - Compaq Computer Corp. (NYSE:CPQ - news) on Tuesday posted a large net loss in the fourth quarter after taking a hit on its technology investments and weakening demand in the U.S. consumer market for personal computers.
Excluding the charge, its fourth-quarter operating profit rose 55 percent, slightly more than Wall Street was expecting since the No. 1 personal computer maker issued a profit warning last month.
The Houston, Texas-based company reported fourth-quarter operating income of $515 million, or 30 cents per share, compared with net income of $332 million, or 19 cents per share, a year earlier.
Including the $1.8 billion charge for the write-off of investments, principally from the decline in value of its stake in Internet investment company CMGI Inc. (NasdaqNM:CMGI - news), Compaq reported a net loss of $672 million, or 39 cents per share.
Analysts had lowered their expectations for operating profit to 28 cents per share from 36 cents per share after Compaq said in December that demand in the U.S. consumer, small- and medium-sized business and dot-com markets dropped off in the course of the quarter.
Total revenues rose to $11.53 billion, up 10 percent from $10.48 billion, slightly above what the company's lowered guidance in December.
``It looks like they came in at the high end of revised estimates,'' said analyst David Bailey of Gerard Klauer Mattison. ``Relatively speaking, it looks like a pretty solid quarter. Revenues are respectable in the circumstances.''
Compaq reported an operating loss of $6 million in its consumer PC segment, compared with a profit of $69 million a year earlier.
Compaq stock rose to $22.50 in after hours trading on Instinet from its close of $20.05.
Before the announcement, Compaq shares closed at $20.05, up 23 cents, on the New York Stock Exchange. Compaq shares have tracked the American Stock Exchange's computer hardware index (^HWI - news) fairly closely since the beginning of 2000. |
