Wednesday April 15, 7:00 am Eastern Time
Company Press Release
Compaq Reports First Quarter Earnings
HOUSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--April 15, 1998--Compaq Computer Corporation (NYSE:CPQ - news) today announced
worldwide sales of $5.7 billion for the first quarter ended March 31, 1998, an increase of eight percent compared to the first
quarter of 1997. Net income for the quarter was $16 million or $.01 per share.
''As we indicated in early March, sales from our North American commercial channels were not meeting our expectations. At
that time, we said we would immediately reduce prices and aggressively promote commercial products in North America in order
to reduce channel inventories and accelerate the implementation of our Optimized Distribution Model (ODM), and that is exactly
what we are doing. As a result, we are seeing an acceleration of sales out of the channel,'' said Eckhard Pfeiffer, Compaq's
President and Chief Executive Officer.
''It will take another quarter of adjustment to put the Company's core business on a track of improved profitability,'' said Earl
Mason, Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. ''Our asset management progress continues. For example, End of
Period Inventory Turns was 15 which is an improvement of 4 turns from the first quarter of 1997. In fact, inventory decreased
$314 million from the fourth quarter of 1997. This coupled with improvements in receivables and payables increased our cash
balance to $7.1 billion, an increase of 43 percent over the $5.0 billion reported a year ago.'' |
