Hewlett-Packard last night posted a higher quarterly profit on strong demand for servers, personal and notebook computers and raised its sales forecast for the second half of the year.
Shares of the computer and printer maker, whose record-high quarterly sales topped even the most optimistic Wall Street forecasts, rose 3.4 per cent in after-hours trade.
HP said net income for the second quarter ended April 30th rose to $884 million, or 29 cents a share, from $659 million, or 22 cents a share, a year earlier.
Revenue rose 12 per cent to a record $20.1 billion from $18.0 billion, helped by the weak US dollar relative to the euro. Adjusted for currency effects, HP said quarterly revenue increased 4 per cent from a year ago.
Chief Executive Ms Carly Fiorina said in a statement that revenue from PCs, computer services, software, services, and imaging and printing were all records for the second quarter.
"We surpassed $20 billion in quarterly revenue for the first time in our history," she added.
Excluding items HP said it had a profit of $1.03 billion, or 34 cents a share, up from $877 million, or 29 cents a share, a year earlier.
HP's results included a settlement amounting to 2 cents a share reflecting an agreed reimbursement to the Government of Canada.