Yesterday, IBM issued a shock profits warning, but rival Compaq has said today that it would meet, or possibly even beat, analysts’ expectations for its first quarter to the end of March 2002.

CEO Michael Capellas, said the company would record revenue of approximately $7.7 billion (€8.79 billion), marginally better than analysts’ consensus estimates of $7.6 billion (€8.68 billion).

Despite tough market conditions and customer confusion surrounding Compaq’s proposed merger with Hewlett-Packard (HP), the company still recorded more than $1 billion (€1.14 billion) in major new account wins during the quarter, said Capellas.

Software giant Computer Associates (CA) also anticipates meeting targets for its current quarter. Company executives said that its revenue for the quarter to the end of March would be $770 million (€878.2 million), up from $733 million (€836 million) in the same period in 2001. However, acquisition and divestiture-related charges mean CA will record its sixth consecutive quarterly loss.

This set of forecasts and warnings comes in the same week that Gartner analysts forecast a freeze in major technological innovation until 2005. It also said that IT spending would continue to be depressed for a further six months.