Hewlett-Packard Dives 13% on Earnings Miss

Dow

component

Hewlett-Packard

(HWP)

was down 13.1% in preopen

Instinet

trading after it reported fourth-quarter earnings of 41 cents per share, missing the

First Call/Thomson Financial

estimate of 51 cents. The year-ago result was 36 cents.

The computer maker also said it ended talks to buy the consulting arm of

PricewaterhouseCoopers

.