Hurd: At the helm

San Francisco, March 30 (Reuters): Hewlett-Packard Co on Tuesday named NCR Corp chief executive Mark Hurd to lead the world?s No. 2 computer maker, choosing a veteran technology manufacturing executive to take the place of ousted CEO and marketing expert Carly Fiorina.

HP shares rose 10 per cent on reports of Hurd?s appointment, which analysts saw as positive since it ended the uncertainty associated with the executive search at the embattled company. HP confirmed the news after the market closed.

NCR stock dropped 17 per cent during the day on the departure of Hurd, 48, who is credited with reversing the declining fortunes of the automatic teller machine maker and data warehouse company, which is a fraction of HP?s size. Before Tuesday?s drop, NCR shares had more than quadrupled in price during Hurd?s time as CEO.

Hurd must lead HP through fierce competitive battles with IBM on the high-end of the technology industry, Dell Inc on the low end and with Lexmark International Inc in its mainstay printer business.

Many investors still question the decision to buy Compaq Computer in May 2002 and argue that HP should spin off its lucrative printer division or divest itself of its computer, data storage, computer services and software businesses.

But asked if the board was considering breaking up HP, non-executive chairwoman Patricia Dunn said in an interview, ?You?re trying really hard...to get me to say the board has a secret plan to break up Hewlett-Packard and we don?t.?

Some investors wished there was such a plan.

?The new CEO is going to have to undo a lot of what Carly did,? said Shawn Campbell, principal of Campbell Asset Management, which owns HP shares. ?The individual pieces are worth more than the whole.?

The 66-year-old HP was Silicon Valley?s first start-up and has grown into a huge and complex company. The board brought in Fiorina to shake up the company. She did so but never produced consistent growth.