HP beats profit forecasts

HP has reported a 14% increase in full-year profit and given an upbeat forecast for the current quarter.
 
The company earned $8.8 billion (€6.4 billion) in the year to end-October, on 10% higher revenue of $126 billion. Operating margin increased 0.3 percentage points to 9.1%.
 
In its fiscal fourth quarter, revenue was 8% higher year-on-year at $33.3 billion, while profit increased 5% to $2.5 billion.
 
Total PC unit shipments grew 2%, and HP said it maintained its market lead during the quarter. A larger portion of earnings came from the corporate sector – commercial client revenue rose 20% while consumer revenue sank 10%. Desktop sales increased while notebook revenue fell.
 
The acquisition of routing and switching firm 3Com, which closed in April, helped HP grow networking sales 227% year-on-year. Revenues at HP's enterprise storage and servers business swelled 25% to $5.3 billion.
 
HP improved its performance in all geographies during Q4, with revenues up 10% in the Americas; 6% in EMEA; and 8% in Asia Pacific.
 
The company predicts revenues for fiscal Q111 in the range of $32.8 billion to $33 billion, and earnings per share of at least $1.28.
 
Analysts had projected earnings of $1.22 and revenue of $32.8 billion, BusinessWeek said.
 
HP’s positive result should hearten a market worried after Dell and Cisco, missed targets.
 
The firm’s NYSE stock grew 2.89% in after-hours trading to $44.50.