H-P 3Q Profits Meet Street View, Sales Narrowly Beat

Hewlett-Packard Co (NYSE:HPQ)  posted a surprise increase in quarterly revenue after revenue from its personal computer division climbed 12%, but flat to declining revenue in its other units underscored the company's uphill battle to revive growth.

HP sales rose a mere 1% to $27.6 billion in its fiscal third quarter from $27.2 billion a year earlier. Wall Street analysts, on average, had forecast a modest drop in revenue to $27.01 billion.

The Silicon Valley giant is undergoing a major overhaul aimed at cutting costs and re-orienting itself toward higher-margin businesses such as computing infrastructure. It's trying to reduce a reliance on PCs and move toward servers, storage and networking for enterprises - part of Chief Executive Officer Meg Whitman's effort to return the sprawling company to growth.

In May, it estimated another 11,000 to 16,000 more jobs needed to be cut on top of 34,000 previously announced. That took the grand total under Whitman's restructuring, which began with her ascension to the post in 2011, to as much as 50,000.

On Wednesday, HP narrowed its earnings forecast for the full year to $3.70 to $3.74 per share, from $3.63 to $3.75 previously. Shares of the company dipped 0.8% to $34.84 after-hours. They closed at $35.12 on the New York Stock Exchange.