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A blustery financial storm at Hewlett Packard Co.--the nation's second-largest computer maker--can look like a cloudless, sunny day to a lot of other companies.
And it appears Hewlett Packard Co.'s 4,000-employee Boise facility has weathered the 1996 storm that brought a summer layoff of 1.150 employees at its disbanded Disk Memory Division.
On the local employment scene, HP watchers can expect smooth sailing for the immediate future, according to Boise HP public affairs representative Deanna Dilling.
"We don't anticipate any changes in our employment levels at this time, but obviously that can change with business conditions pretty quickly," Dilling said in early December. "As business conditions change, we'll adapt to whatever we need to do to remain competitive. But no changes at this time have been announced or are anticipated."
While the Boise site was hit with the layoffs announced in July, HP's companywide employment increased from 105,200 through the first quarter to 112.000 by the end of November.
Also, the president of the Palo Alto-Calif.-based computer company expressed mixed optimism at the end of the year despite two consecutive quarters of diminished profits.
HP's annual profit grew from $2.4 billion in fiscal year 1995 to $2.6 billion for the year ended Oct. 31. That compares favorably with HP's 1994 earnings of $1.6 billion.
But to hear HP CEO Lewis Platt tell it after the end of the 1996 fourth quarter, you might think the company is a corporate pauper.
"We're encouraged by the rebound in order growth this quarter, but somewhat disappointed with our earnings," Platt said. "Our disappointment is tempered by the fact that this was a tough comparison with very strong earnings...