Hewlett-Packard (HP), the world’s no.1 PC maker, posts a better-than-expected net profit in the fourth quarter and beats Wall Street analysts’ forecasts

According to HP, it made a $1.03 net profit on each share excluding charges. It was 3% higher than what the Wall Street analysts were expecting. After that news, there was a 10% sharp increase in HP’s shares.

Mark Hurd, HP chief executive, says that his company is gaining market share though there is a challenging marketplace.

Because of its global reach, ongoing cost cuts and broad customer base, HP is in a better position than its rivals.

HP’s sales also rose to $33.6 billion (19%) that were also better than expected.

During September this year, HP announced that it would shed over 24,000 jobs after its acquisition of Electronic Data Systems.

Shannon Cross, analyst at Cross Research, says in this connection: “Though there is an extremely strong competitive position, HP is gaining market share along with aggressive cost reduction,”

As there were fears that the economic slowdown would hit the PC market, HP shares lost a third of their value during the past two months.

Last year, HP became the biggest seller of PCs when it overtook Dell. The company is expected to reveal its full results on 24 November.