Nov. 6--Strong PC shipments in China powered Lenovo to better-than-expected profits in the latest quarter, reversing three consecutive money-losing quarters.

The world's No. 4 PC maker boosted its worldwide market share to 8.9 percent -- its highest ever, CEO Yang Yuanqing said Thursday during a conference call. Yang is based at the company's headquarters in Morrisville, where it employs 1,500 workers.

The Chinese company reported a profit of $53 million for its fiscal second quarter, which ended Sept. 30, more than double its profit of a year ago.

Revenue totaled $4.1 billion, down 5.2 percent from a year ago. But revenue rose 19 percent compared with the preceding quarter.

"It's a good set of results," analyst Patrick Yau of the Macquarie Group in Hong Kong told Bloomberg News. "The company is executing strongly and is beginning to squeeze profit from increased market share."

Lenovo has been cutting costs, including through layoffs, and focusing more on emerging markets in response to the global recession. The company entered the U.S. market in 2005 when it acquired IBM's PC business.

Lenovo's chief financial officer, Wong Wai Ming, told analysts that the company's higher profits demonstrated that its restructuring is paying off.

The company said PC shipments for the quarter were 17 percent higher than a year ago, well above the industry growth rate of 2.3 percent. The growth was led by a 28 percent increase of shipments in China, where demand was stoked by government subsidies. China accounts for 49 percent ofLenovo's revenue.

Shipments in the U.S. market fell 1 percent from a year ago, although they were 2 percent higher than the preceding quarter.

Lenovo's strength in the U.S. market is selling to corporations, which have scaled back on PC purchases during the recession. The company didn't enter the U.S. consumer market until last year, and sales have been hurt by a limited product lineup and because its PCs aren't sold in as many stores as its top competitors.

Yang said he was "cautiously optimistic" despite the prospects of a challenging holiday season and the expectation that corporate buying won't pick up until the second half of next year.

The company's American depositary receipts, similar to stock, rose 20 cents to $11.45 Thursday. They've doubled so far this year.

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