BRIEFCASE.

Byline: - Staff and Wire Services

Home prices up; sales dip in state

Sales of California homes and condos slowed in July, even as homebuyers helped push prices to new records, a real estate research firm said Tuesday.

The statewide median price paid for a home last month was $451,000, up 1.3 percent from $445,000 in June and up 17.4 percent from $384,000 in July last year, according to DataQuick Information Systems.

For the month, a total of 62,150 homes were sold statewide, down 8.3 percent from 67,750 in June and down 2.4 percent from 63,700 in July 2004.

HP's Q3 earnings beat expectations

SAN JOSE - Hewlett-Packard Co.'s fiscal third-quarter earnings beat Wall Street expectations as the personal computer company's sales improved and its printer business remained strong amid a major corporate restructuring.

The Palo Alto company's earnings, however, fell sharply due to tax adjustments from the repatriation of $14.5 billion in foreign earnings.

For the three months ended July 31, HP earned $73 million, or 3 cents per share, compared with $586 million, or 19 cents per share, in the same period last year.

Excluding $988 million in adjustments related to the cash repatriation, HP earned $1.06 billion, or 36 cents per share, compared with profit of $728 million, or 24 cents per share, in the third quarter of fiscal 2004.

Sales rose 10 percent, to $20.8 billion, from $18.89 billion in the third quarter of fiscal 2004.

On a pro forma basis, the results beat Wall Street estimates. Analysts were expecting the company to post earnings of 31 cents per share on sales of $20.47 billion, according to a survey by Thomson Financial.

Applied Materials Q3 sales slower

SAN FRANCISCO - Net income at Applied Materials Inc., the world's largest supplier of chip-making equipment, fell in its latest quarter due to slower sales.

The company late Tuesday posted fiscal third-quarter net income of $369.6 million, or 23 cents a share, compared with $440.6 million, or 26 cents a share, in the same period last year.

Sales fell 27 percent to $1.63 billion.

The Santa Clara-based company said its results were helped by a tax adjustment, which added 8 cents a share to the bottom line.

Time Warner unit buys Mexican firm

NEW YORK - In a move to gain a bigger footing in the fast-growing Spanish-language media business, magazine publisher Time Inc. has acquired Grupo Editorial Expansion, one of Mexico's largest magazine companies.

Time Inc., a unit of New York-based Time Warner Inc., paid about $60 million for the company, people familiar with the matter said.

Major firms invest in stock exchange

PHILADELPHIA - The Philadelphia Stock Exchange announced Tuesday that Citigroup Inc., Credit Suisse First Boston, Morgan Stanley and UBS AG have each invested in the exchange and could end up being among six financial firms that would own nearly 90 percent of the institution.

Investment firms worried about acquisitions and growth by the New York Stock Exchange and Nasdaq have been seeking more control of their own stock trading. The big Wall Street firms fear it could become more expensive to trade on the two big exchanges; the move into Philadelphia would give them their own exchange on which to conduct stock and options trading.

Qwest agreement ends strike threat

DENVER - Qwest Communications' largest union said it reached a contract agreement with the company late Tuesday, removing the threat of a strike by 25,000 telephone workers in 13 states.

The tentative three-year agreement between the regional phone company and the Communications Workers of America includes a 7.5 percent wage increase, changes to health care that will reduce employees' overall costs and an eight-hour cap on mandatory overtime, the union said in a statement e-mailed to reporters.

Officials at Denver-based Qwest did not immediately return calls seeking comment.