Hewlett-Packard, the largest personal-computer maker, forecast second-quarter profit that exceeded analysts' estimates, helped by cost-cutting measures and a smaller-than-projected drop in service sales.
Profit, excluding some items, will be 80 cents to 82 cents a share for the current quarter, which ends in April, the California-based company said a statement yesterday.
Shares surged in late trading. Hewlett-Packard is using job cuts to bolster profit as demand for printers and personal computers slumps and companies curtail purchases of higher-margin hardware and software.
Hewlett-Packard chief executive officer Meg Whitman said she feels "pretty good" about fiscal 2013 and reaffirmed a prediction that the company will resume growth next year, evidence of progress on a five- year turnaround plan even as competitive pressures linger.
Fiscal first-quarter revenue fell 5.6 per cent to $28.4 billion (€21.4 billion), compared with analysts' average estimate of $27.8 billion. Profit, excluding amortization, restructuring and other charges, was 82 cents a share, compared with the 71-cent prediction.
Net income fell 16 per cent to $1.23 billion, or 63 cents a share, from $1.47 billion, or 73 cents, a year earlier.
"I feel pretty good about the rest of the year," Whitman said in an interview. "I think we are beyond the announcements about the writedowns and restructuring."
The shares rose as much as 8.1 per cent in extended trading. Hewlett-Packard had advanced almost 2 per cent in the last hour to close at $17.10 in New York yesterday.
Almost 4.29 million shares traded in that timeframe, three times the average volume seen during the same period in the past five trading days.
The stock has climbed 46 per cent since November 20, when the company disclosed an $8.8 billion writedown on the value of software company Autonomy, which it agreed to buy for $10.3 billion in 2011.
Bloomberg
