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Politics : Formerly About Applied Materials -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: StanX Long who wrote (59989)	2/5/2002 1:04:53 AM
From: StanX Long	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 70976

Hewlett-Packard Says 1st-Qtr Profit Topped Forecast (Update7) By Peter J. Brennan 02/04 18:12 quote.bloomberg.com Palo Alto, California, Feb. 4 (Bloomberg) -- Hewlett-Packard Co., battling for shareholder approval to acquire Compaq Computer Corp. for $23.8 billion, said fiscal first-quarter sales and profit beat forecasts as consumer demand for personal computers and printers picked up. Earnings in the period ended Thursday were ``substantially'' more than 16 cents a share, the average estimate of analysts polled by Thomson Financial/First Call, and sales exceeded expectations, the second-largest computer maker said. Hewlett-Packard's report comes less than two weeks after Compaq raised its targets for 2002 sales and profit. Chief Executive Carly Fiorina said the improved results show that buying Compaq wouldn't crimp earnings, a claim made by director Walter Hewlett in his challenge to the purchase. Some investors and analysts said the earlier forecasts may have been too low. ``They set a very low standard for themselves,'' said Tom Rath, a fund manager at Safeco Asset Management Co., referring to Hewlett-Packard. ``It was important for them in regards to convincing shareholders to vote for the merger.'' Safeco, which manages about $30 billion in assets, owned 911,300 Hewlett-Packard shares as of December.