HP reports solid Q3 results, lifts 2018 profit view

HP Inc. (HPQ) reported a 26% jump in earnings for the third quarter as double-digit growth in the PC and Printer divisions drove revenue higher. The top and bottom lines exceeded analysts’ expectations and the company raised its earnings guidance for the full year.

Earnings surged 26% to $880 million or $0.54 per share. Non-GAAP earnings per share increased 21% to $0.52.

Revenue for the quarter grew 12% to $14.6 billion.

Personal Systems division, which brings in a lion’s share to the company’s top line, continued its strong performance, improving sales by 12% to $9.4 billion. Meanwhile, the printing segment saw 11% growth over last year bringing in $5.2 billion to the top line.

Total hardware units were up 12% with Commercial hardware units showing huge year-over-year growth compared to the slight rise in Consumer hardware units.

Looking ahead, HP expects its earnings to be between $0.48 and $0.51 per share. On an adjusted basis, earnings are expected to be $0.52 to $0.55 per share.

For the fiscal year 2018, HP lifted non-GAAP EPS outlook to the range of $2.00 to $2.03 from prior estimate of $1.97 to $2.02. GAAP earnings are now predicted to be $2.82 to $2.85 for the full year 2018.

The company used $0.2 billion worth of cash for dividend payment of $0.1393 per share in the third quarter. HP utilized $0.7 billion of cash to repurchase about 30.4 million shares of common stock in the open market. As a result, HP returned 66% of its free cash flow to shareholders in the third quarter.

HP exited the third quarter with $7.1 billion in gross cash, which includes cash and cash equivalents and short-term investments of $0.9 billion included in other current assets. HP generated $1.4 billion of free cash flow in the third quarter.

Shares of HP ended Thursday’s regular trading session up 0.49% at $24.63 on the NYSE. The stock turned negative in the after-hours following the results.

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