To: Paul Engel who wrote (81071 ) 5/17/1999 4:43:00 PM From: L. Adam Latham Read Replies (2) | Respond to of 186894
All: HP beats concensus estimates by 10%, and indicates strong PC growth. Makes CPQ look even worse after blaming their woes on an industry slowdown. DELL reports tomorrow - hopefully they'll blow away estimates as well. Adamcnnfn.com HP 2Q trounces estimates Technology giant's profit rises by 34 percent amid strong PC sales May 17, 1999: 4:24 p.m. ET NEW YORK (CNNfn) - Hewlett-Packard Co. Monday reported a second-quarter profit of $918 million, easily beating Wall Street estimates as the technology giant saw strong growth in its personal computer business. The Palo Alto, Calif.-based company posted earnings of 88 cents per share. Although revenue increased just 3 percent to $12.4 billion, the firm easily beat analysts' estimates, which expected Hewlett-Packard (HWP) to log a profit of 80 cents per share, according to First Call. HP's earnings easily outstripped last-year's results, when it reported a profit of $685 million, or 65 cents per share, on $12 billion in revenue. Share of the Dow component rose 2-5/16 to close at 86-1/2 ahead of the earnings report. HP noted that it derived strong growth across its PC lines. The company also said orders across all product lines grew 10 percent over last-year's results. "We had solid net earnings in PCs, strong profit performance in printing and imaging, and significant profit improvement in our measurement business," said Lewis Platt, HP's chairman and chief executive officer. "Clearly, our challenge is to convert order growth into stronger growth in revenue." For the first half of fiscal 1999, HP reported a profit of $1.9 billion, or $1.80 per share, on $24.4 billion in revenue, compared to first-half 1998 earnings of $1.6 billion, or $1.51 per share, on $23.9 billion in revenue.