Hewlett-Packard

Do not dismiss Hewlett-Packard just yet. The once-troubled ship found itself a new captain, CEO Mark Hurd, and he could be just the one to steer the company back onto the right course.

The former NCR chief took over the reins of HP after the very-public ousting of Carly Fiorina early this year, and he has since introduced some sweeping changes.

In July, Hurd announced that the company would trim organizational fat by eliminating some 14,500 jobs, or about 10 percent positions out of a total of 150,000.

The company also decided to stop selling Apple iPods under its own brand, as well as to bow out of the digital camera business in Asia. It will continue to sell digital cameras only in North America, Europe, and Latin America. Both moves were met with analyst approval.

Hurd also took a harder stance with its partners, and said in July that the company was looking to re-evaluate its compensation structures for partners to make sure that they focus on selling multiple-related HP products, such as iPaqs with Pavilion notebooks.

A turnaround in HP's fortunes came in August 2005, when it reported a 10 percent revenue increase for the third quarter to US$20.8 billion compared to the same quarter a year ago. The company attributed the growth to increased server and storage sales, as well as overseas sales.