Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Technology Stocks : Applied Materials No-Politics Thread (AMAT) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Fred Levine who wrote (5724)	2/25/2003 10:00:02 AM
From: Fred Levine	Respond to of 25522

Middle East - AP Campaigning Heats Up for Iran Elections Mon Feb 24,10:09 PM ET By ALI AKBAR DAREINI, Associated Press Writer TEHRAN, Iran - Campaigning was in full swing Monday ahead of this week's village and city council elections in Iran, with liberal dissidents running for the first time in two decades and hard-liners encouraging people to abstain from voting. Thousands of banners and posters for candidates decorated main streets in the capital Tehran ahead of Friday's elections, which are being boycotted by hard-line groups who support the country's conservative Islamic establishment. "Many people, especially devoted religious people, won't participate in the elections because they will be supervised by reformers," Asadollah Badamchian, a leader of the hard-line Islamic Coalition Society, said in remarks published Monday. The elections come amid public frustration over the pro-reformist government's inability to deliver political, economic and social reforms because of their ongoing power-struggle with ruling hard-line clerics. Reformists, who back the popularly elected President Mohammad Khatami (news - web sites), blame the slow pace of reforms on hard-liners who cling to power through their control of unelected institutions such as police and judiciary. Nearly 225,000 candidates throughout Iran have registered for Friday's elections. Unlike other elections, candidates were not required to undergo a strict vetting process by the hard-line Guardian Council. Such procedures have allowed many liberal dissidents to contest the elections for the first time in two decades. Senior members of Yazdi's banned party _like Gholamabbas Tavassoli, Khosrow Mansourian and Aboulfazl Bazargan — have been accused of seeking to overthrow the Islamic establishment, but are running in the elections as individual candidates. The Freedom Movement of Iran, which opposes clerical rule and seeks nonviolent democratic changes, was banned by a court last July. Candidates for Tehran's 15-seat city council include former deputy interior minister Mostafa Tajzadeh and Saeed Razavi, who led student protests against a death sentence issued against university professor Hashem Aghajari. The sentence has since been lifted. Campaigning began Feb. 20 and will continue for a week, stopping 24 hours before polls open Feb. 28. fred

To: Fred Levine who wrote (5724)	2/25/2003 6:16:48 PM
From: Jacob Snyder	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 25522

February 25, 2003 5:40 p.m. EST Hewlett-Packard Co. met Wall Street's earnings forecasts for fiscal first-quarter results, but missed revenue targets amid weakness in the U.S. market, and issued a cautious outlook. The company, based in Palo Alto, Calif., reported late Tuesday its net income rose to $879 million, or 24 cents a share, for the period ending Jan. 31, from $484 million, or 25 cents a share, in the year-earlier period, when H-P had fewer shares outstanding. The year-earlier net income figure doesn't include results from Compaq Computer Corp., which was acquired by H-P in May. H-P's results include a $156 million, or five cent a share, adjustment on an after-tax basis in amortization of purchased intangible assets and other acquisition-related items. Excluding items, H-P's earnings were $1.1 billion, or 29 cents a share, which was about in line with a Thomson First Call consensus estimate for earnings of 28 cents a share. Hewlett-Packard Chief Executive Carly Fiorina said the company is "making good headway and continues to perform well," noting that the first quarter was its best overall profit performance since the Compaq merger. Revenue was $17.9 billion, which missed a Thomson First Call estimate of $18.47 billion. Revenue weakness was confined to the U.S., Ms. Fiorina said, where weak commercial spending continued. Revenue was $11.4 billion in the year-earlier period, which excludes revenue from Compaq. In the personal-systems segment, revenue increased 2% sequentially from the fourth quarter to $5.1 billion, with significant increases in consumer-PC and hand-held revenue. Enterprise-systems revenue fell 6% sequentially, while services revenue slipped 3% from the previous quarter amid a continued weak IT market. In the imaging and printing unit, revenue was flat, while financial-services revenue dropped 4% sequentially. H-P ended the first quarter with $13.2 billion in cash and cash equivalents, short-term investments and certain long-term investments. Gross margin improved sequentially to 25.9% from 26.5%, reflecting continued improvement in the company's cost structures. Integration-related cost savings rose to $734 million from $482 million in the fourth quarter. Looking ahead, Ms. Fiorina said the current climate is uncertain, which makes predictions difficult, a theme many of its competitors including International Business Machines Corp. and EMC Corp. mentioned in their most recent quarterly results. She reiterated the company's estimate for earnings of 27 cents a share in the fiscal second quarter. Wall Street currently expects the company to post second-quarter revenue of about $18 billion, according to Thomson First Call. H-P has had a tough go of it, given the two-year slump in the computer industry and the hurdles it has had to overcome for its merger last year with Compaq. H-P reported after the closing bell Tuesday. In 4 p.m. trading, shares were up 42 cents to $18.17 on the New York Stock Exchange. URL for this article: online.wsj.com