HP: Thanksgweekend Sales+10%$,+20%units
by: skeptically 11/26/01 09:51 pm
Msg: 262049 of 262050
biz.yahoo.com
Monday November 26, 7:31 pm Eastern Time
HP pleased by consumer electronics holiday buying
SAN FRANCISCO, Nov 26 (Reuters) - Hewlett-Packard Co.
(NYSE:HWP - news) said on Monday that shoppers snapped up personal computers and electronics this Thanksgiving weekend, and consumer sales rose as much as 10 percent or more from last year.
Personal computer sales rose 10 percent in dollar terms and more than 20 percent in units, Bob Wies, printer and computer maker Hewlett-Packard's general manager of consumer business for North America, said in an interview.
``I think consumers came early. They might have smaller budgets but their spirits seem to be just as big,'' he said. ``We're real pleased.''
The percentage rise in total consumer sales for the company rose in the high single digits or low teens, he said.
Economists have their fingers crossed in hopes that holiday buying which unofficially began this weekend will help reinvigorate the economy.
Weak consumer buying plagued Hewlett-Packard early this year, although HP sales beat Wall Street expectations in its fiscal fourth quarter ended Oct. 31.
``The whole month of November has been very, very strong for us,'' Wies said.
A number of analysts have said strong holiday sales were spurred by discounts which undercut earnings, but Wies said profit margins were up from the previous Thanksgiving.
Wies said that after the Sept. 11 attacks consumers appeared to be after products for the home and communication, such as digital cameras that produce pictures that can be e-mailed to far-away relatives.
``A lot of products that make sense for home entertainment and/or personal use, at least over the weekend, seem to be doing very well,'' he said, pointing to combined printer-scanner-faxes, digital cameras and photo printers and personal computers.
However, he said that consumer buying, which surged late last year, might simply have peaked early this season.
``This year I think consumers have obviously struck much earlier. Of course, we hope that that will lead to a continued trend as they purchase through the holiday season. At the same time it could mean that people went out because the values were down early on, made their purchases and we may not see that volume pick up,'' he said. |
