HP posts 5 percent net income boost despite weak demand
updated 06:15 pm EST, Mon November 22, 2010
HP reveals fourth quarter profits, is up overall
Computer and accessories maker HP revealed its fourth-quarter results on Monday, with a five percent operating profit increase compared to the same quarter last year. The net revenue for the time period was set at $33.3 billion, or $2.5 billion higher (eight percent) than the same time period last year. HP's PC business revenue increased four percent to $10.3 billion, with global unit shipments growing by two percent as desktop revenue grew by 13 percent while notebook revenue shrank by three percent.
The results likely meant that HP either didn't gain share or potentially lost it to faster movers like Apple and Lenovo. HP has a significant stake in netbooks and low-end notebooks and may have been partly slowed by iPads, though this isn't expected to be a major factor.
The increased overall revenue of $33.28 billion was higher than analysts' predictions, at $32.75 billion.
The strongest increase came from the company's Enterprise Storage and Servers arm, with the total $5.3 billion revenue representing a 25 percent boost to the same time last year. The HP Networking revenue increase was much higher, at 227 percent, but was impacted by the 3Com acquisition that was completed in April.
The announcement was headed up by HP's new CEO, Leo Apotheker, which marked his first public appearance since coming onboard three weeks ago. He has been in virtual hiding since Oracle signaled an intent to have him testify in an ongoing lawsuit between Oracle and SAP. Apotheker was hired from SAP after HP's previous CEO, Mark Hurd left after sexual misconduct that may also have included leaking trade secrets. [via AP]
