This summary is based on the first quarter fiscal 2008 earnings call conducted by Hewlett-Packard Co. (HPQ: chart) on February 19, 2008.

Chief Executive Officer: Mark Hurd
Chief Financial Officer: Cathie Lesjak
Vice President of Investor Relations: Jim Burns

Key Investors Issues

- The earnings per share increased to 80 cents as against 55 cents in the prior year.
- Quarterly revenue grew 13% over the previous year to $28.5 billion.
- For the full year, the firm expects non-GAAP EPS to be in the range of $3.50 to $3.54.

First Quarter Fiscal 2008 Financial Highlights

Revenue for the first quarter totaled $28.5 billion, up 13% year-over-year or up 8% in constant currency.

Looking at revenue by geography, Asia-Pacific grew 22%, EMEA was up 15% and Americas increased 8%. The firm generated 69% of total revenue outside of the US, with emerging markets driving significant growth.

First quarter non-GAAP EPS was 86 cents, up 32% from the 65 cents in prior year.

GAAP EPS was 80 cents, which included $158 million or 6 cents per share in after-tax adjustments, primarily related to the amortization of purchased intangibles that were excluded from non-GAAP results.

First quarter gross margins were 24.5%, up 80 basis points compared to a year ago period.

This was driven by a generally favorable commodity environment, disciplined pricing and improvements in warranty and attach.

Non-GAAP operating expenses for the quarter were $4.1 billion or 14.6% of revenues, down from 15.1% a year ago.

Adjusting for currency, expenses were up 6%, as the company added sales and go-to-market resources and absorbed acquisitions. The firm will continue to align its cost structure for greater efficiency and growth.

- Non-GAAP operating profit grew 31% to $2.8 billion or 9.9% of revenue.
- Non-GAAP OI&E yielded income of $72 million or roughly 2 cents per share.
- The non-GAAP tax rate was 21% in Q1.

The company owned inventory ended Q1 at 33 days of supply, this is down six days compared with a year ago.

This reflects the firm’s focus on improving execution and working capital management. With regards to channel inventory, the firm ended the quarter with PSG and ESS down roughly half a week year-over-year and IPG flat year-over-year.

Days sales outstanding increased to 39 days in Q1 from 37 days one year ago, days payable was 47 days, down from 53 days last year. The company will continue to leverage its balance sheet to drive shareholder value.

- Property, plant and equipment was up $759 million year-over-year and down 20 basis points, as a percentage of revenue.
- Gross CapEx was $611 million, down 15% year-over-year. On a net basis, CapEx was $523 million, down 10% from the prior year period. Capital expenditures were primarily related to assets used in the firm’s leasing business and its investments in IT.

The cash flow from operations was $3.2 billion and free cash flow was $2.7 billion.

Included in these results was the significant fiscal 2007 annual bonus, which was paid out in the first quarter. In addition, the firm spent $3.3 billion on share repurchases during the quarter. Relative to prior quarters, the linearity of repurchases in Q1 was backend weighted. At the end of the quarter, the firm had roughly $7.4 billion remaining in the current share repurchase authorization.