Hewlett-Packard 1Q profit, revenue drop; Strong dollar weighs on forecast and stock drops

Shares in Hewlett-Packard Co. slid in late trading Tuesday after the company reported quarterly revenue and an earnings outlook that were below Wall Street estimates.

The giant computer maker reported fiscal first-quarter profit of $1.37 billion, down 4 percent from a year earlier. Earnings amounted to 73 cents per share, or 92 cents per share after adjusting for one-time items. That surpassed the estimate of analysts surveyed by FactSet, of 91 cents per share.

Sales fell 5 percent to $26.84 billion in the November-January period, below analysts' expected $27.38 billion.

For the current quarter ending in April, HP expects per-share earnings of 84 cents to 88 cents. Analysts were expecting 96 cents per share. HP said a strong U.S. dollar will hurt overseas sales.

For the year, HP predicts profit of $3.53 to $3.73 per share.

HP has struggled with broad industry shifts including the increasing popularity of mobile devices and software delivered over the Internet. CEO Meg Whitman is leading the turnaround effort and has announced plans to split the company. One arm will focus on selling personal computers and printers. The other will concentrate on commercial technology, including hardware and software for big data centers. The company

The Palo Alto, California, company's shares dropped $2.44, or 6.3 percent, to $36.05 in extended trading. The stock closed up 30 cents to $38.59 in regular trading, a climb of 29 percent in the last 12 months.

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Elements of this story were generated by Automated Insights (http://automatedinsights.com/ap) using data from Zacks Investment Research. Access a Zacks stock report on HPQ at http://www.zacks.com/ap/HPQ

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Keywords: Hewlett-Packard, Earnings Report