Top Ford analyst sees lower market share

Ford Motor Co.’s top U.S. sales analyst said Wednesday the automaker’s U.S. market share will probably continue to decline this year despite its turnaround efforts.

George Pipas said Ford’s U.S. market share has dropped by one percentage point — or roughly 150,000 vehicles — each year for the last five years. Arresting that decline and then stabilizing market share are top priorities in Ford’s North American restructuring plan, but Pipas said the losses will probably continue in the near term.

Pipas wouldn’t say what he thinks Ford’s ideal market share will be amid increased competition in the U.S. Ford held a 17.4 percent share in 2005.

“Hewlett-Packard Co.’s fiscal first-quarter profit jumped 30 percent on Wednesday as the printer and computer company saw cost-saving benefits from last year’s restructuring and strong sales across most its product lines.

For the three months ended Jan. 31, HP earned $1.2 billion, or 42 cents per share, compared with a profit of $943 million, or 32 cents per share in the same period last year. Sales rose 6 percent, to $22.7 billion in the first quarter from $21.5 billion from the year-ago period.

Excluding one-time items, HP earned $1.39 billion, or 49 cents per share, compared with a profit of $1.08 billion, or 37 cents per share, in the first quarter of fiscal 2005.

“Office Depot Inc., the nation’s second-largest chain of office supply stores, said Wednesday that its fourth-quarter profit doubled on lower costs and an uptick in revenue.

The retailer earned $106.3 million, or 34 cents per share, up from $52.1 million, or 17 cents per share, a year earlier. Excluding certain charges, Office Depot said it would have earned 43 cents per share.

Revenue grew 7 percent to $3.72 billion from $3.47 billion as higher North American sales offset a decline in international revenue.

“Pratt & Whitney said Wednesday it is starting a business that will produce spare parts for a jet engine manufactured by rival General Electric Co.

The business, Global Material Solutions, has won UAL Corp.’s United Airlines as its first customer, supplying parts for about 200 CFM56-3 engines.

The CFM56 engine is built by GE and its French partner, Safran SA’s Snecma Moteurs, through an alliance known as CFM International. More than 15,000 engines, which were introduced in the 1980s, have been sold.