Shares at HP sink as sales slump

Hewlett-Packard shares experienced their worst fall in five months after the firm’s fiscal second-quarter profit forecast fell short of analysts’ estimates as consumers curtailed personal-computer purchases.

The shares in the US company declined 6.3% to $27.13 (€20.30) in New York on Wednesday, the biggest intraday decrease since Sept 22.

&Profit before some items in the three months through April will be 88c to 91c a share, the company said yesterday.

That was less than the 95c average analyst estimate, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

Sales in the personal computer group dropped 15% to $8.87bn in the three months ended in January as consumers held off on buying new machines in the first full quarter under chief executive Meg Whitman.

Revenue from servers, printers and storage gear also declined, suggesting Whitman’s attempts to reverse a sales slump aren’t yet taking hold.

First-quarter sales of home computers fell 25% and business-PC revenue was down 7%, the California-based company said.

Consumers may wait to buy new PCs until Microsoft Corp releases its Windows 8 software later this year.

Sales of servers, storage and networking equipment declined 10% to $5.02bn, Hewlett-Packard said.

Software revenue climbed 30% to $946m.

In the first quarter, which ended Jan 31, profit excluding some items declined to 92c a share, compared with analysts’ average estimate of 87c.

Net income fell 44% to $1.47bn, or 73c a share, from $2.61bn, or $1.17 a share, a year earlier, Hewlett-Packard said. Sales fell 7% to $30bn.

— Bloomberg