HP Earnings Surge

Elena
17 Nov, 2006
New York City

Hewlett-Packard earned $1.7 billion or 60 cents per share, compared with $416 million, or 14 cents per share last year, due to higher sales of laptop computers, printers and servers. Excluding one-time charges, the company

[R]8:00AM Hewlett-Packard reported quadrupled q4 profit.[/R]
Hewlett-Packard Co. ((HPQ)) said that Q4 earnings quadrupled but the SEC had ordered a formal probe of its boardroom spying scandal. HP earned $1.7 billion or 60 cents per share, compared with $416 million, or 14 cents per share last year, due to higher sales of laptop computers, printers and servers. Excluding one-time charges, the company’s profit rose 27% to $1.9 billion, or 68 cents per share from the same quarter last year, beating expectations of 64 cents per share on sales of $24.1 billion for the quarter. Fourth-quarter sales increased 7% to $24.6 billion, compared with $22.9 billion last year.

HP's annual revenue surpassed $90 billion for the first time. For 2006, the company earned $6.2 billion, or $2.18 per share, compared with $2.4 billion, or 82 cents per share. Sales for the year were $91.7 billion, compared with last year's total of $86.7 billion. The company projected Q1 earnings of 2007 to be between 55 cents and 57 cents per share, or between 60 cents and 62 cents per share excluding one-time charges, on revenue of between $24.1 billion to $24.3 billion. For 2007, earnings are expected to be between $2.28 and $2.33, or between $2.48 and $2.53 excluding one-time charges. Annual revenue is expected to be about $97 billion.

Shares of HP fell 53 cents to $39.60 in after-hours trading Thursday, as HP said in a regulatory filing that the SEC had started a formal investigation into the spying scandal.


[R]7:30AM Asian markets close mostly higher Friday, Japan slips on bank worries.[/R]
Asian markets ended broadly higher on Friday. The benchmark Nikkei 225 index in Tokyo shed 0.45%, to close at 16091.73 points. The market was in positive territory at first, following record highs in New York overnight, but the index fell later as investors took to profit-taking in the scarcity of fresh earnings or new data. Mitsui shed 3.8% and oil company Inpex Holdings lost 3.51%.

In Australia, the benchmark S&P/ASX200 index gained 0.5% to 5419.7. The market bounced back from recent losses on the back of financial stocks, with National Australia Bank up 1.2%. Babcock & Brown soared 6.3% on plans for an offshore funds-management business with joint-venture partner GPT Group, which gained 2.1%.

The Kospi in South Korea finished up 0.1%, at 1412.22. South Korean markets were buoyed by airline and shipping stocks, although gains were mostly erased by losses in technology shares. Korean Air jumped 3% and Asiana Airlines advanced 2.2%. Hyundai Merchant Marine, added 4.2% and Hanjin Shipping moved 1.8% higher.

In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng Index closed 0.15% higher at 19182.71. Taiwan markets moved slightly up as the Weighted Price Index of the Taiwan Stock Exchange advanced 0.03% to 7259.54. mobile phone and display makers were weak and countered advances in automobile, memory chips, and personal-computer stocks.


[R]6:30AM European markets dropped in early trading Friday on weak oil shares.[/R]
European markets were lower in early trading on Friday. By mid morning, the FTSE 100 in London was 0.2% lower to 6,239.8, Frankfurt Xetra Dax gained 0.1% to 6,449.23, and the CAC 40 in Paris lost 0.4% to 5,483.12.

Decliners

Oil stocks led the decliners on Friday. Norsk Hydro fell 4.1%, while domestic rival Statoil shed 4.1%. Finnish refiner Neste Oil was down 2.1%, Repsol of Spain lost 2%, while French Total fell 1.9%.

Advancers

Richemont, the Swiss luxury goods group, gained 2.8% after reporting a better-than-expected 22% rise in first-half net profit, thanks to growth in demand for expensive watches. The company said it was confident that full-year results would be significantly ahead of last year.

French luxury goods maker Hermes International gained 3.7%. German chipmaker Infineon gained 1.8% after ABN Amro raised its rating on the company from hold to buy and lifted its price target. Hypo Real Estate, the German property lender, gained 2.1% after West LB raised its price target on the stock from add to buy.

Oil and gold

Oil declined $56 on Friday to its lowest level in a year. U.S. crude was down 76 cents at $55.50 a barrel. London Brent crude was 48 cents lower at $58.06.

Gold opened Friday at a bid price of $617.80 a troy ounce, down from $624.40 late Thursday.

Currencies

The euro edged slightly down against the dollar Friday on positive economic news from the United States. The euro bought $1.2776 in late morning European trading, compared with $1.2795 in New York late Thursday. The British pound slipped to $1.8848 from $1.8882. The dollar was up against the Japanese yen, buying 118.35 yen from 118.19 yen on Thursday.