HEWLETT PACKARD (HP) beat Wall Street targets with its third-quarter results, as net profit rose 14 per cent, subduing fears that slowing economies and a stronger dollar would weaken the world’s biggest computer and printer maker and its rivals.
HP, which employs about 4,000 in the Republic, reported net income for the quarter ending July 31st of $2.03 billion, or 80 cent a share.
Excluding exceptional items, HP reported profit of 86 cent a share, ahead of the average analyst expectation of 84 cent a share.
Revenue rose 10.5 per cent to $28.0 billion, or roughly 2 per cent ahead of Wall Street’s average expectations.
Without the benefit of international currency translation, revenue grew only half that rate at 4.7 per cent.
The Palo Alto, California-based company forecast fiscal fourth-quarter profit of $1.01 to $1.03 a share and revenue of $30.2 billion to $30.3 billion.
Revenue from outside the United States accounted for 68 per cent of the total. Adjusted for currency exchange rates, Europe, Middle East and Africa revenue rose 5 per cent, and Asia Pacific revenue rose 8 per cent. Revenue in the Americas rose 3 per cent.
“They’re going to obviously see some impact from the rising dollar. This is going to influence their overseas revenue and will have some impact on their bottom line,” said William Rutherford, president of Rutherford Investment Management.
Commenting on HP’s local performance, country manager Martin Murphy, said HP Ireland came into 2008 with the momentum of a number of years of record growth “but there is no doubt the market has cooled in the last 12 months”.
Technology research firm IDC expects IT spending in Ireland to grow by 2 per cent this year down from 6 per cent in 2007.
Despite what he described as “challenges”, Mr Murphy predicted the Irish operations would have a “solid year”. He said the main areas where businesses were investing in technology were “spend to save” projects, where the application of IT could cut costs, and green technology initiatives which can reduce energy bills. – (Additional reporting: Reuters)
