After celebrating earnings well in excess of Wall Street estimates, Hewlett-Packard executives woke up to a severe hangover yesterday. The morning after the earnings celebrations, they watched their stock sag more than 9 per cent, amid downgrades from some analysts and worries over the prospects of the high end of their Unix server line.

Mr Bob Wayman, Hewlett Packard chief financial officer, yesterday admitted in an interview that the company, which employs more than 2,100 people in Ireland, had been surprised by the market reaction to what he saw as "superb" results.