Earnings Projections Stronger than Forecasted for Hewlett Packard
While some technology companies have warned of softening in the global economy, Hewlett-Packard is not seeing slowing demand in its own international business, company executives said Tuesday.
Hewlett-Packard, however, has begun to see some tightening of the consumer market in the United States, Mark V. Hurd, the chief executive, told investors during a quarterly earnings conference call.
“In the U.S., at the end of the quarter, we saw a little more caution in the consumer segment than we’ve seen in the past,” Mr. Hurd said.
Nevertheless, Mr. Hurd raised his forecast for the full year. The company estimated that second-quarter revenue would be as much as $27.9 billion, and full-year revenue would be about $114 billion — increases of about 9 percent in each case over the year-earlier period. Previously, H.P. projected sales for the 2008 fiscal year would be $111.5 billion.
H.P., the world’s largest technology company, is considered a bellwether for the tech sector, if not the economy as a whole, because its revenues are evenly balanced between consumers, small business and large enterprises, with its overseas business accounting for 70 percent of its revenue.
The company said first-quarter net income grew 38 percent, to $2.1 billion, or 80 cents a share, while revenue climbed 13 percent, to $28.5 billion, better than analysts had predicted. Mr. Hurd attributed the performance to continued cost-cutting efforts, growth of the sales force and the company’s geographic reach.
