HP President Spins Third Quarter

"You have two factors at hand here. One is how much of it is the absolute number and how much of it is moving faster. There's no question that we are moving faster, and this is a good thing. The second part is that where we stand from a merger-related baseline, you're always going to have two effects: What's the absolute water level of the business and what is the merger-

related effect? If we go across the board, product set by product set, we are executing to the plans of the merger-related. If you then say, 'Well, you do expect us to manage the business to the water level.' Anytime you run any business, the expectation is you'll size the business according to where the activity fits, particularly,and I think Bob [Wayman, HP's CFO made a very important point [earlier,that we're not seeing a homogeneous geographic pattern. There is a very different pattern, so we'll size where we need to. Bob, do you want to comment on that?"

Wayman: "I don't think there's anything to add."

Don't worry, Bob. We wouldn't want to touch that one, either.