HP raises guidance

Vendor increases forecasts ahead of second quarter results next week

Hewlett-Packard (HP) has hoisted its revenue and profit forecasts for its fiscal second quarter to 30 April, pointing to strong sales of PCs and servers.

The technology giant isn’t set to release official results until next week, but was forced to issue an update after inadvertently disclosing financial information to an outside party on Monday.

Second quarter revenue is expected to hit between £25.5bn and $25.55bn, at least one billion dollars more than its previous guidance. HP expects non-GAAP diluted earnings per share (EPS) of $0.69 to $0.70, well above the $0.63 to $0.64 target it set previously.

In the same quarter last year, HP generated an EPS of $0.69 on revenue of $22.6bn.

The IT megalith attributed the guidance increase to “strong operational results” in its Personal Systems Group and in industry-standard servers.

Profits were also lifted by higher levels of share repurchases, HP added.