Compaq Keeps Trimming Guidance

Updated from 5:37 p.m. EDT.

It's doing it again. After reporting second-quarter results Wednesday evening that plunged from year-ago levels, Compaq (CPQ Quote) warned investors that its third-quarter sales would come in below expectations.

For its second quarter, Compaq said it earned $64 million, or 4 cents a share, matching the lowered consensus estimate of analysts polled by Thomson Financial/First Call and far below the 21 cents a share the company posted last year. Revenue came in at $8.5 billion, about $60 million lower than expected.

Then Compaq got down to the warning. The company said it expects third-quarter sales of $8 billion to $8.4 billion and earnings per share of 7 cents to 9 cents. Analysts were expecting sales of $8.7 billion, according to Multex.com, and earnings of 9 cents a share. ...