Compaq Computer Corp is on a roll – largely, it would seem, at the expense of its major competitors, and yesterday it announced that it more than tripled its profits in the second quarter on sales that nearly doubled to $1,630m. The results were slightly above Wall Street analysts’ expectations – it did $1.21 a share against an average guess of $1.19. Compaq said it increased operating expenses in the second quarter over the first quarter to support geographic growth, expansion of distribution channels research and development and advertising. The effort paid off, it said, as it continued to gain significant market share. The personal computers industry continues to be highly competitive, but clearly Compaq’s business strategy has positioned the company to be a winner in the current industry consolidation, chief executive Eckhard Pfeiffer commented. Compaq said its unit shipments in the second quarter rose 150% over a year ago, while worldwide shipments of personal computers increased 25%. Compaq also said it plans to continue to pursue market share with competitively-priced machines – the old Compaq used to say never mind the price, feel the nameplate – and will launch the first line of in-house designed and built personal computers targeted at the small office and home market later this year, and will also add its most powerful and advanced line of servers.
