Personal Technology

Hewlett-Packard (NYSE:HPQ) posted a lighter-than-feared 32% contraction in fiscal second-quarter profits on Wednesday as the aging tech giant's cost cutting helped offset shrinking revenue.Shares of H-P, already up almost 50% on the year, spiked another 10% in after-hours trading as Wall Street focused on the earnings beat and upbeat guidance instead of weaker-than-expected sales.H-P said it earned $1.1 billion, or 55 cents a share, last quarter, compared with a profit of $1.6 billion, or 80 cents a share, a year earlier.Excluding one-time items, it earned 87 cents a share, down 11% from the year before but above the  Street's view of 81 cents.Revenue declined 10% to $27.6 billion, trailing consensus calls from analysts for $28.01 billion.In a sign of progress, H-P said its quarterly cash flow from operations soared 44% year-over-year to $3.6 billion.Meg Whitman, H-P's CEO, said in a statement that the earnings beat was "driven by better than expected performance in Enterprise Services...

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