How HP Mastered the Pain Game

Burlingame, Calif.–Wednesday would be a really bad day for Hewlett-Packard Chief Executive Mark Hurd to break his winning streak. Central bankers around the globe are sweatily trying to revive faltering banks. Politicians are passing stimulus packages. Consumers are seeing the values of their homes tank.

Luckily, Hewlett-Packard (HPQ) has a man at the top now who could be called Maalox in human form. Over the past four years, Hurd has reshaped a company once known for its manic earnings swings into a steady-earning powerhouse and the world’s largest information technology provider. BernsteinResearch notes that HP has met or beaten the guidance Hurd has laid down for the company’s performance, and then guided earnings-per-share expectations up, every quarter since he became HP’s chief in 2005.

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