Freezing wages and eliminating bonuses to avoid layoffs would be counterproductive for the Boeing Co. and other big employers, the aerospace company’s chief executive said. In an e-mail Tuesday to Boeing employees, CEO Jim McNerney wrote that many people suggested freezing wages or incentive pay would be a way to avoid layoffs. But such moves would hurt the company’s ability to attract and retain high-performers, he said. He said such actions would preserve some cash during the year and lessen the immediate effect on people, but “our judgment (and one shared by most major companies) is that they would put us at a competitive disadvantage.”
Comcast earnings fall 32 percent
Comcast Corp., the nation’s largest cable TV provider, said Wednesday its fourth-quarter earnings fell 32 percent, hampered by a $600 million write-down of its investment in wireless technology provider Clearwire Corp. Comcast’s revenue and adjusted earnings beat Wall Street estimates, and the company raised its dividend 8 percent. However, the company showed markedly slower growth in its video, high-speed Internet and phone businesses. Comcast shares closed down 53 cents, or 4.1 percent, at $12.36. Comcast said competition from phone companies has intensified. And fewer customers have been ramping up their subscriptions to more expensive tiers of service.
H-P sales rise, but profits fall
Hewlett-Packard Co.’s quarterly profit dropped 13 percent, and sales ticked up just 1 percent, as even the technology company’s cash-cow printer ink business was hobbled by the recession. The world’s top seller of personal computers also cut its 2009 guidance, but it was still in line with Wall Street’s expectations. HP shares fell 39 cents, or 1.1 percent, to $33.69 in extended trading, after closing down 26 cents during the regular trading session, before the Palo Alto, Calif.-based company reported its earnings. Crippled technology spending slammed all but one of HP’s major business lines, including personal computers and servers. Only HP’s services division, which bulked up with its $13.9 billion acquisition of Electronic Data Systems, saw an increase.
Deere profits drop 45 percent
Deere &Co.’s quarterly profit tumbled 45 percent as the global economic slowdown and stronger dollar hurt demand for its tractors and construction equipment. Moline, Ill.-based Deere also faces record-low levels of housing construction. Deere, posted net income Wednesday of $203.9 million, or 48 cents a share, for the fiscal quarter that ended Jan. 31. That was down sharply from $369.1 million, or 83 cents a share, a year ago. Revenue slipped 1 percent to $5.15 billion.
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