HPE stock rose by about 5 percent on Tuesday after the enterprise software and hardware maker disclosed better-than-expected earnings for the third quarter of its 2017 fiscal year, which ended on July 31.
- EPS: Excluding certain items, 30 cents in earnings per share vs. 26 cents in earnings per share as expected by analysts, according to Thomson Reuters.
- Revenue: $8.21 billion vs. $7.49 billion as expected by analysts, according to Thomson Reuters.
The results are impacted by HPE's $8.8 billion spin-off of non-core software assets to Micro Focus, which the company completed last week.
But more generally, HPE has been in the spotlight lately because CEO Meg Whitman was in the running to become the next head of app-enabled cab company Uber. Ultimately Expedia chief Dara Khosrowshahi was selected to replace Travis Kalanick as Uber's CEO, but in the midst of the CEO search Whitman stepped down from the board of HP Inc.
Tuesday's press release on the earnings report has a fairly standard quote from Whitman, suggesting that she's not going anywhere for the moment. "The results of the third quarter are an encouraging sign of the progress we are making," Whitman is quoted as saying. "With better execution we drove overall revenue growth, exceeded our EPS targets and improved our operating margins sequentially, all while completing the spin-merge of our Software business. There's more work to do, but we are on the right track."
As a whole, HPE's revenue for the quarter, when the figure is adjusted for divestitures as well as currency, was up 6 percent year over year. Without those adjustments, revenue is up 3 percent.
In terms of guidance, HPE says it's expecting to earn 26-30 cents per share in the fourth quarter of its fiscal year. Analysts were expecting the company to forecast EPS of 40 cents on $7.74 billion in revenue for the quarter, according to Thomson Reuters.
HPE adjusted its guidance for the full fiscal year to reflect the software spin-off. It's now expecting $1.36-1.40 in earnings per share.
The company's biggest business segment, its enterprise group, which includes data center hardware, came in at $6.8 billion, up 3 percent year over year and above the FactSet analyst estimate of $6.37 billion, according to FactSet. Server revenue, a key metric, was down 1 percent year over year, while storage revenue was up by 11 percent and networking revenue was up by 16 percent, HPE said.
Earlier on Tuesday HPE said it has acquired consulting firm Cloud Technology Partners.
HPE's stock is up 3 percent since the beginning of the year.