Hewlett-Packard reported better than expected fourth quarter results Monday and delivered a solid outlook for its upcoming quarter.
HP said its fourth quarter earnings were $2.16 billion, or 81 cents a share, on revenue of $28.3 billion. Excluding charges, earnings were 86 cents a share. Fourth quarter revenue was up 15 percent from a year ago and net income was up 28 percent from a year ago.
According to Thomson Financial, HP (preview, statement, all resources) was expected to report earnings of 82 cents a share on revenue of $27.4 billion. For fiscal 2007, HP reported earnings of $7.3 billion, or $2.68 a share, on revenue of $104.3 billion.
While the results were impressive, most folks wanted to hear about the outlook. HP projected first quarter revenue between $27.4 billion and $27.5 billion with earnings to be about 80 cents a share excluding charges. Including charges, HP projected earnings of 75 cents a share. For fiscal 2008, HP sees revenue of about $111.5 billion with earnings between $3.12 a share to $3.17 a share. Excluding charges, the annual earnings range is expected to be $3.32 a share and $3.37 a share.
Those projections topped estimates. For HP’s fiscal first quarter the company was expected to report earnings of 77 cents a share on sales of $27 billion. For fiscal 2008, HP is expected to report earnings of $3.27 a share on sales of $109.5 billion.
By the numbers: