(By Salman - iStockAnalyst Writer)Hewlett-Packard Co. (NYSE: HPQ), the world's largest personal-computer maker by revenue, is scheduled to release its fiscal fourth quarter financial results after the market close on Monday, November 23, 2009. Analysts currently expect the company to report net earnings of $1.13 per share on revenue of $30.36 billion. In the year ago period, Sears Holdings reported net earnings of $0.84 a share on revenue of $33.6 billion.
Hewlett-Packard Company provides a range of products, technologies, software, solutions, and services worldwide. The company is global leader in Personal Systems and Imaging and Printing. Though the company's performance was impacted by severe economic recession, its recurring revenue streams helped it in recovering from the shocks earlier than its competitors. In August, the company reported fiscal third quarter results that topped expectations. Net income declined to $1.64 billion or $0.67 per share, compared to $2.03 billion or $0.80 per share in the year-ago quarter. Revenues for the quarter decreased to $27.45 billion from $28.03 billion in the prior-year quarter. Analysts, on average, expected the company earn $0.90 per share, on revenue of $27.25 billion for the quarter.  Early in November, the company said that it expects to report fourth quarter earnings of $0.99 per share and non-GAAP earnings of $1.14 per share, on a preliminary basis. The company also expects to post fourth quarter revenue of $30.8 billion, a decline of 8% from year-earlier quarter.  Looking ahead to the first quarter of 2010, HP said it expects GAAP earnings in the range of $0.90 to $0.92 per share, and non-GAAP earnings in the range of $1.03 to $1.05 per share. HP also estimates first quarter revenues to range between $29.6 billion and $29.9 billion.  HP also upped its guidance for fiscal 2010. The company said it will record revenue between $118 billion and $119 billion, up from its previous estimate of $117 billion to $118 billion. Full-year earnings per share estimates were increased to $3.65 to $3.75, up from its previous estimate of $3.60 to $3.70. Excluding one-time items, HP said it would earn between $4.25 to $4.35 per share. Analysts currently expect earnings of $4.28 per share on revenues of $118.10 billion for fiscal 2010. Thanks to massive government stimulus programs, stabilization of financial markets and the gradual restoration of economic confidence, there has been an upturn in PC market volumes. Global PC shipments came in at 80.9 million in the July-September quarter, up 0.5 percent from a year ago, according to Gartner. The technology research firm was expecting PC shipments to fall 5.6 percent in the third quarter. Hewlett-Packard continued to lead the worldwide PC market as its shipment growth exceeded the worldwide average, the report showed. With 19.9 percent of the market, its shipments were up more than 18 percent in the July-September period.  HP has benefited from a strong demand in China. According to IDC analyst Bryan Ma, China recorded 28 percent growth in computer shipments in third quarter. The company, which has grown to become the second largest PC vendor in China, more than doubled shipments during the third-quarter. Hewlett-Packard accounted for 18.4 percent of the overall China PC market, up from 11.6 percent a year earlier. China, the world's fastest-growing major economy, will post annual PC shipment growth of 18 percent over the next five years to overtake the U.S. as the largest computer market globally by 2013, Ma said. Recently, HP agreed to buy network equipment maker 3Com Corp for $2.7 billion to step up competition against Cisco Systems Inc. (NASDAQ: CSCO) and expand its networking solutions offerings and strengthen the company's position in China.3Com has been very successful in rapidly gaining market share in China, capturing almost 30% of the network switching market. The transaction is expected to close in the first half of 2010. In terms of stock performance, HP shares have gained 37% since the beginning of the year. Shares of the company fell 72 cents or 1.44% to close at $49.75 on Thursday.