HP revenue falls 6 percent, beats Wall St view

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Hewlett-Packard Co's fiscal first-quarter revenue fell 6 percent to $28.4 billion (18.6 billion pounds), but it beat Wall Street expectations in a flat to shrinking personal computing market, sending its shares up over 5 percent.

The world's No. 1 PC maker also gave an outlook that came in higher than Wall Street expected.

Analysts had on average expected HP, which like Dell Inc is struggling to sustain sales growth as smartphones and tablets surge in popularity, to record revenue of $27.8 billion in the December quarter.

The company's stock rose 5 percent, from a close of $17.10 on Nasdaq, in after-market trade.

HP on Thursday estimated fiscal second quarter earnings per share of 80 to 82 cents, higher than the average Wall Street forecast of 77 cents.

HP is struggling to shore up its credibility on Wall Street while battling shrinking margins in an increasingly cut-throat PC market, reduced IT spending, and an internal overhaul that involves thousands of layoffs.

Chief Executive Meg Whitman, who took the helm over a year ago after a failed bid to become governor of California, has plunged HP into a years-long turnaround to recapture some of the Silicon Valley icon's former growth trajectory.

She said the company's efforts at recovery is gaining traction but acknowledged "there's still a lot of work to do to generate the kind of growth we want to see."

Revenue at HP's personal systems division fell 8 percent, while sales in its enterprise group slid 4 percent during the quarter.

(Reporting by Edwin Chan; Editing by Richard Chang)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/hp-revenue-falls-6-percent-beats-wall-street-211637597--finance.html

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