Hewlett-Packard Company (NYSE: HPQ) reported late on Wednesday that its fiscal second-quarter profit fell 32% as revenue declined across all segments; however, shares rallied in aftermarket trading as adjusted earnings topped street’s estimations, thanks to cost cutting measures. The Company also provided optimistic guidance for the current quarter.
For the current quarter, the Palo Alto, California-based Company expects earnings to be in the range of 84 cents to 87 cents a share while analysts’ consensus estimate was for 83 cents a share, according to a data compiled by Thomson Reuters. For the full-year the Company upwardly revised its lower range of earnings guidance by 10 cents a share to $3.50 to $3.60 a share.
Speaking to analysts in conference call, Hewlett-Packard’s Chief Executive Meg Whitman said that ongoing restructuring efforts and unexpectedly stronger show by Company printer’s division helped boosting earnings. However, the Chief Executive said that still a lot needs to done to become more efficient and competitive in the industry.
For the fiscal second quarter ended April 30, H-P reported a net income of $1.08 billion or 55 cents a share compared to net income of $1.59 billion or 80 cents a share, in the same quarter of last year. Stripping out onetime items such as costs linked to restructuring, adjusted earnings stood at 87 cents a share down from 98 cents a share. Earlier in February, H-P projected earnings of 80 cents to 82 cents which was above Street’s consensus estimate.
Revenue fell 10% to $27.58 billion while analysts polled by Thomson Reuters most recently forecasted $28.01 billion. The recently concluded quarter marked H-P’s seventh successive decline in quarterly sales.
Revenue from PC business plunged 20% in the second quarter. While revenue from consumer unit slumped 29%, it fell 14% in commercial customer division. Revenue in printing business slipped 0.8%.
The stock, which was already up about 50% year-to-date, climbed more than 10% in aftermarket trading.
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