HP posted strong results for the third fiscal quarter of 2010, including increased enterprise sales, although executives noted some lack of demand for consumer notebooks. Executives made no mention of a replacement for former CEO Mark Hurd.
Hewlett-Packard announced strong results for the third
fiscal quarter of 2010, even as the company wrestled with the sudden departure
of former CEO Mark Hurd.
Those results included net revenues of $30.7 billion, up
11.4 percent from the same quarter in 2009. Its Services, Enterprise Storage
and Servers, HP Software, Personal Systems Group, and Imaging and Printing
Group all experienced year-over-year increases in revenue. Overall, the
company's operating profit totaled $2.3 billion.
HP CEO Mark Hurd resigned on Aug. 6, touching off
speculation around the circumstances of his fall and the company's short-term
future. Until a permanent replacement is named, HP CFO Cathie Lesjak will serve
as interim CEO.
Hurd's resignation came in the wake of an internal investigation
into sexual harassment claims by a former HP contractor, Jodie Fisher. While HP
executives said they found no evidence of harassment, Hurd had apparently
violated company business policies in order to disguise a personal relationship
with Fisher-specifically, though actions such as filing false expense reports.
Unsurprisingly, HP executives chose to focus on the
company's metrics and revenues during the Aug. 19 earnings call.
"As our results demonstrate, we continue to leverage our
scale and reach," Lesjak said during the call. HP apparently plans to increase
its spending on both research and development, and enterprise sales force, in
order to preserve that momentum. HP's $1.2 billion acquisition of Palm closed
at the beginning of July; it is widely expected that the company will install
the Palm webOS as the operating system for an upcoming series of mobile
products, including tablet PCs and smartphones.
HP also saw increased
enterprise sales, suggesting that businesses are beginning to spend on IT
infrastructure after several quarters of recession-related belt-tightening.
That strength in the commercial markets, HP executives insisted during the
call, balanced out some lack of demand for
the consumer notebook market. Strength also apparently came from HP's
networking business.
In addition, Lesjak hit back at recent rumors that Hurd had
underinvested in the company's research and development.
"We have not underinvested in R&D," she told analysts
and media. "What I think is important is, we have three-year plans out there
that are supported by the board that include acceleration in R&D and sales,
and those investments are funded through productivity initiatives."
Executives on the call alluded to future products running both the Palm WebOS and Windows, but offered no further details.
Nicholas Kolakowski is a staff editor at eWEEK, covering Microsoft and other companies in the enterprise space, as well as evolving technology such as tablet PCs. His work has appeared in The Washington Post, Playboy, WebMD, AARP the Magazine, AutoWeek, Washington City Paper, Trader Monthly, and Private Air. He lives in Brooklyn, New York.
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