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Technology Stocks : Compaq -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: rudedog who wrote (45674)	1/27/1999 1:05:00 PM
From: dav	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 97611

Home - Yahoo! - Help -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Yahoo! Visa - 9.99% fixed APR, no annual fee [ Business \| US Market \| By Industry \| IPO \| AP \| S&P \| International \| PRNews \| BizWire ] -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Related Quotes CPQ 48 1/2 -3/4 delayed 20 mins - disclaimer Wednesday January 27, 12:33 pm Eastern Time INTERVIEW - Compaq CFO backs Q1 earnings consensus By Eric Auchard NEW YORK, Jan 27 (Reuters) - Compaq Computer Corp. (NYSE:CPQ - news) Chief Financial Officer Earl Mason said he backed the consensus among Wall Street analysts that the computer maker can generate earnings of 35 cents per share during the first-quarter. ''We're comfortable with the estimates,'' Mason told Reuters in a phone interview, referring to the First Call consensus view of 35 cents per share for the quarter ended in March. Earlier, Compaq released fourth-quarter earnings results and held a conference call with financial analysts from which reporters were excluded. Fourth-quarter net income for the world's No. 1 personal computer maker, which also offers a range of high-capacity computers and computer and Internet services, rose to $758 million from $667 million in the 1997 fourth quarter. Earnings per share rose to 43 cents per diluted share, roughly flat from the 42 cents of the year-ago quarter, but 5 cents ahead of the 37 cents per share Wall Street had expected according to First Call. Questioned about his outlook for the 1999 year, Mason said that, ''It's so early to tell.'' He added: ''We still see good order growth'' but offered no specific percentage. He downplayed gloomy scenarios about the impact of Year 2000 repair work on computer purchasing this year. ''People have their plans in place for buying computers'' and so-called Y2K concerns are not going to substantially alter these patterns, he said. Specifically, he disagreed with analysts who predict businesses will aggressively replace older PCs in the 1999 first half, then all but halt purchasing in the second half of this year in order to fix existing computers ahead of the New Year. Sales of products sold into the company's distribution channels grew roughly at the same pace as sales from these distributors out to end customers, which he said grew 43 percent in the fourth quarter of 1998 versus the same quarter of 1997. Compaq's sales through distributors largely consist of personal computer products as opposed to services and other businesses sold directly. Geographically, the Compaq executive said North American product shipments grew 53 percent in terms of units, while Europe shipments grew 46 percent and Japan grew 51 percent. However, the Asia Pacific region units fell by 1 percent, with a key factor in the decline a 17 percent drop in China. Latin America unit shipments rose 8 percent year-over-year. Mason said Compaq had kept PC inventory levels within the three to four-week range the company has committed to maintain since the middle of last year, when it emerged from a struggle with excess inventory that began in the fourth quarter of 1997. ''We're in good shape,'' Mason said of inventory levels. ''We continue to move ahead with what we have been saying we would do.'' Compaq posted solid gains in inventory turns, or the number of times product inventory was sold and replaced during the quarter, should continue to show further improvement in coming quarters, he said. Compaq's overall inventories turned over 15.9 times in the fourth quarter versus 12.4 times in the third quarter. Inventory turns among just PC products turned over more than 30 times, he said. Computer services revenues grew 10 percent in the fourth quarter versus the final quarter of 1997, a turn-around from several years of declines in the services business, much of which was inherited as part of Compaq's acquisition of Digital. Compaq management has committed to achieving double-digit revenue growth -- or at least 10 percent -- in its services business in 1999, he said. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- More Quotes and News: Compaq Computer Corp (NYSE:CPQ - news) Related News Categories: US Market News -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Help -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Copyright © 1999 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved. Republication or redistribution of Reuters content is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Reuters. Reuters shall not be liable for any errors or delays in the content, or for any actions taken in reliance thereon. See our Important Disclaimers and Legal Information. Questions or Comments?

To: rudedog who wrote (45674)	1/27/1999 1:05:00 PM
From: ALTERN8	Respond to of 97611

I would assume so as well Here is the full article: Compaq Quarterly Earnings Up 14 Pct HOUSTON (AP) - Compaq Computer Corp. (NYSE:CPQ - news) said Wednesday its fourth-quarter profits rose 14 percent, topping Wall Street's expectations. Compaq, the world's largest maker of personal computers, said it earned a record $758 million, or 43 cents a share, compared to $667 million, or 42 cents a share, in last year's fourth quarter. Sales rose 48 percent, to $10.9 billion from $7.32 billion. Analysts surveyed by First Call Corp. expected Compaq to earn 37 cents per share. The company credited sales growth at three times the industry rate and the continued successful absorption of Digital Equipment Corp., which Compaq bought last year. ''With the majority of the Digital integration now successfully behind us, we enter the new year ready to completely unfold and deply the strategy we have been working towards for the past year and a half,'' said Eckhard Pfeiffer, Compaq president and chief executive officer. A second-quarter charge of $3.63 billion, mostly to account for the Digital merger, caused a net loss for the full year. In 1998, Compaq lost $2.74 billion, or $1.71 a diluted share, compared to a profit of $1.86 billion, or $1.19 a diluted share, in 1997. Sales rose to $31.17 billion from $24.58 billion. Shares of Compaq slipped 561/4 cents to $48.50 on the New York Stock Exchange.

To: rudedog who wrote (45674)	1/27/1999 2:18:00 PM
From: Elwood P. Dowd	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 97611

rude one......Geeeeeez, I'm glad we didn't earn 45-50 cents! Probably woulda driven the share value down to about 42! jajajjajajajjja Still holding ALL of my shares and hoping for big news, or at least a real positive spin to the penguins on Friday. Hopefully we'll close @ 50 or better at 4pm Fri.! Basking in the Fla. sunshine, El