Earnings Reports for Nov. 13

ByABC News
November 14, 2000, 9:32 AM

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Hewlett-Packard Misses Estimates

Tech heavyweightHewlett-Packard stunned Wall Street by reporting a big earnings shortfall before the market opened today and saidit ended talks to buy the consulting business ofPricewaterhouseCoopers.

The stock of the computer and printer maker fell more than12 percent, weighing down markets in general following lastweeks rout, which was spurred by a revenue warning frompersonal computer maker Dell Computer.

HP shares slumped $5 to $34-1/8, a low unseen since April1999, helping to pull down the Dow Jones industrial average,which was off about 167 points inafternoon trading.

The Palo Alto, Calif.-based company reported fourth-quarterearnings far short of Wall Street expectations, citing marginpressures, adverse currency effects, higher-than-expectedexpenses, and business mix.

Hewlett-Packard Chairman, President and Chief ExecutiveOfficer Carly Fiorina said she was very disappointed that wemissed our [earnings per share] growth target this quarter dueto the confluence of a number of issues that we now understandand are urgently addressing. I accept full responsibility forthe shortfall.

Hewlett-Packard also said it had terminated talks to buythe consulting business of PricewaterhouseCoopers.

The news of its earnings shortfall surprised Wall Street,which did not expect the company to report its fourth-quarterresults until after the close of the market today.

Hewlett-Packard reported fiscal fourth-quarter earnings pershare of 41 cents, excluding investment and divestiture gainsand losses, the effects of stock appreciation rights andbalance sheet translation, and restructuring expenses. Analystshad been expecting 51 cents per share, according to researchfirm First Call/Thomson Financial.

Including these items, the computer maker earned 45 centsper share on about 2.05 billion shares of common stock andequivalents outstanding. This compares with 36 cents in thesame period 1999, adjusted for expenses related to the spin-offof Agilent Technologies and the incremental effect of a stockappreciations rights plan.