HEWLETT-PACKARD REPORTS SLOW QUARTER.Byline: Lawrence M. Fisher The New York New York, state, United States New York, Middle Atlantic state of the United States. It is bordered by Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Atlantic Ocean (E), New Jersey and Pennsylvania (S), Lakes Erie and Ontario and the Canadian province of Times Hewlett-Packard Co. reported second-quarter earnings Thursday that fell at the low end of analysts' expectations, sending its stock down in heavy trading. Hewlett-Packard shares closed at $105.25, down $8.50, on the New York Stock Exchange New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) World's largest marketplace for securities. The exchange began as an informal meeting of 24 men in 1792 on what is now Wall Street in New York City. . Some analysts downgraded Hewlett shares, while others said the circumstances CIRCUMSTANCES, evidence. The particulars which accompany a fact. 2. The facts proved are either possible or impossible, ordinary and probable, or extraordinary and improbable, recent or ancient; they may have happened near us, or afar off; they are public or that led to the shortfall were temporary, and they remained confident. In part the sharp reaction reflected investors' expectations, based on a series of strong quarters, that Hewlett-Packard would exceed estimates, analysts said. On another level, however, Hewlett-Packard has begun to take on the market-leading role once played by IBM (International Business Machines Corporation, Armonk, NY, www.ibm.com) The world's largest computer company. IBM's product lines include the S/390 mainframes (zSeries), AS/400 midrange business systems (iSeries), RS/6000 workstations and servers (pSeries), Intel-based servers (xSeries) . Although still considerably smaller in revenues and market capitalization Market Capitalization A measure of a public company's size. Market capitalization is the total dollar value of all outstanding shares. It's calculated by multiplying the number of shares times the current market price. This term is often referred to as market cap. , Hewlett-Packard is on a growth curve to surpass IBM within a few years and has come to be regarded as a greater technological leader. Whether right or wrong, these impressions tend to exaggerate reactions, on the upside Upside The potential dollar amount by which the market or a stock could rise. Notes: This is basically an educated guess on how high a stock could go in the near future. See also: Bull, Downside and down. For the second quarter, Hewlett-Packard reported earnings of $723 million, or $1.37 a share, up 25.3 percent from $577 million, or $1.10 a share, in the comparable period a year ago. Revenue grew 33.8 percent, to $9.9 billion, compared with $7.4 billion in the second quarter of 1995. The consensus estimate among Wall Street analysts was $1.45 a share, with a range of $1.29 to $1.64, among the 20 analysts polled by First Call. ``The disappointment in the quarter was primarily in costs and expenses,'' said Steven Milunovich, an analyst with Morgan Stanley  To comply with Wikipedia's , the introduction of this article needs a complete rewrite. . ``The demand side was very strong, but the gross margin was almost a point lower than I was expecting,'' he said. ``The company has set such a high bar for itself that relatively modest revenue growth and margin pressure are going to make the stock volatile.'' Hewlett-Packard partly blamed weakness in workstations and disk drives for the lower profit margins. |
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