HP sales up, earns $1.38B in Q3

Hewlett-Packard earned $1.38 billion (48 cents per share) in Q3 this year, up drastically from $73 million (3 cents) a year ago. Last year's figures included a massive tax charge, but the bottom line's the bottom line. Revenue for the third quarter is up a modest 5 percent at $21.89 billion. The company did well in selling printers and laptops, but software was the highlight, with a revenue of $318 million and 30 percent year-over-year growth. The recently announced $4.5 billion acquisition of Mercury Interactive will be completed in the current quarter, and layoffs and attrition in the low thousands range will continue, CEO Mark Hurd added.

For more on HP:
- read this AP article