(By Balachander) Hewlett-Packard Co. (NYSE:HPQ), the world's largest seller of personal computers, reported better-than-expected quarterly earnings and the company revised its full-year forecast. In extended trading, shares rose 1.35 percent.
On a non-GAAP basis, earnings per share (EPS) fell 9 percent to $1.00 from $1.10 in the same period of last year, yet topped Wall Street projections of $0.98. The company posted a GAAP loss of $8.9 billion due to restructuring and goodwill impairment charges of $10.8 billion.
Revenue declined 5 percent to $29.7 billion, more than consensus estimate of a 3.5 percent drop to $30.1 billion for the third quarter.
HP's revenue has been falling for the past three quarters as dwindling sales of PCs coupled with a shortage of hard disk drives (HDD) taking a toll on its results.
On Tuesday, rival Dell Inc. (NASDAQ:DELL) reported quarterly revenue that trailed market expectations amid drop in gross margins and the company offered weak forecast.
HP announced a restructuring program in May that included a reduction of roughly 27,000 jobs, the biggest step taken by CEO Meg Whitman, who took the helm in September 2011.
Segment wise, Personal Systems Group revenue declined 10 percent with desktop units down 6 percent, and notebook units falling 12 percent. Services revenue fell 3 percent. Imaging and Printing Group (IPG) revenue dropped 3 percent. Revenue at Enterprise Servers, Storage and Networking (ESSN) - which accounts for 16 percent of HP's topline - fell 4 percent. Software revenue jumped 18 percent.
Looking ahead for the full year, the company now expects non-GAAP EPS in the range of $4.05 to $4.07, versus prior view of $4.05 to $4.10, while analysts expect $4.07.
HPQ shares, which have been trading in the 52-week range of $17.41 to $30.00, ended Wednesday's regular trading at $19.20.