Hewlett-Packard profit rises 51% to $1.46 billion
May 16, 2006 16:25:00 (ET)
SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- Hewlett-Packard Co. on Tuesday reported a 51% rise in its second-quarter profit as the technology giant saw strong sales at its personal-computer and printing and imaging divisions.
H-P (HPQ, Trade) said it earned $1.46 billion, or 51 cents a share, compared to $966 million, or 33 cents a share, in the year-ago period. Revenue rose 5% to $22.6 billion, from $21.6 billion a year ago.
Excluding charges and one-time items, H-P would have earned $1.6 billion, or 54 cents a share to beat miss meet the estimates of analysts surveyed by Thomson First Call, who forecast a profit of 49 cents a share on $22.6 billion in revenue.
Among its main business areas, H-P said its personal-systems group posted an operating profit of $248 million, on sales of $7 billion. During the year-ago quarter, the division earned $147 million on revenue of $6.4 billion.
Imaging and printing remained H-P most-profitable division, with operating earnings of $1 billion and revenue of $6.7 billion, up from $814 million on $6.4 billion in revenue last year.
Going forward, H-P expects to report third-quarter earnings of between 41 cents and 44 cents a share, on revenue of $21.75 billion. Excluding one-time items, H-P expects to earn between 45 cents and 48 cents a share. Analysts had forecast H-P to earn 43 cents a share on $21.7 billion for the company's third quarter. |
