The company's management, however, is reluctant to say that it can sustain the heady growth, and the uncertainty has made for a volatile stock.

No one, least of all Mr. Cornacchia, is predicting heady growth.

Wall Street companies that a few months ago were projecting heady growth are laying off employees and eliminating divisions.

Wal-Mart is hoping that hypermarkets will give it a third way to maintain its heady growth.

With the heady growth days of the late 1990's only a memory, Ms. Fiorina believes that the industry itself is ripe for consolidation.

The heady growth, at an 18.7 percent annualized rate, harks back to the conspicuous consumption heyday of the mid-1980's.

And the heady growth is all the more surprising because it comes at a time when consumers can afford to buy new.

New markets are critical if today's computer companies are to continue their heady growth of the last few years.

Indeed, the idea that Saatchi's undertaking expansion would be startling news is in stark contrast to the company's recent era of hectic, heady growth.

China, with its vast population and heady economic growth, used to be seen here as a potential bonanza for American multinational companies.