Hewlett Packard ships 9% fewer commercial printer units in Q3

Hewlett Packard said net revenue was up 10% for its fiscal third quarter ended July 31, reaching a total of $28 billion. The company's Imaging and Printing Group, however, demonstrated some weakness, with declines in hardware revenue and printer units shipped.

The company's operating profit rose 20% in the third quarter for a total of $2.5 billion. Earnings per share were $0.80, up from $0.66 last year.

In the Imaging and Printing Group, revenue grew 3% year-over-year for a total of $7 billion. Commercial hardware revenue declined 5% and consumer hardware revenue declined 14%. Printer unit shipments declined 2%, with consumer printer hardware units flat and commercial printer hardware units down 9%. The bright spot was supplies revenue, which grew 11%. Operating profit for the group was $1 billion, or 15% of revenue, compared to $981 million, or 14.5% of revenue in the prior-year period.

In the Personal Systems Group, revenue grew 15% for a total of $10.3 billion, with notebook revenue up 26% and desktop revenue up 6%.

The Enterprise Store and Servers division reported revenue of $4.7 billion, up 5%.

HP Services revenue increased 14% for a total of $4.8 billion while HP Software revenue grew 29% for a total of $781 million. HP Financial Services reported revenue totaling $680 million, an increase of 17% year over year.