HP's decline in PC shipments overshadows strong results; shares fall

Aug. 26 (Reuters) - HP said on Wednesday its personal computer unit shipments declined in the third quarter, overshadowing the company's strong results and sending its shares down 10% in extended trading.

Its total PC shipments dropped 16% for the quarter ended July 31, even as revenue from the division increased 18%. Printing revenue fell 2% to $3.9 billion in the third quarter.

The company expects fourth-quarter adjusted earnings per share between 69 cents and 79 cents, above analysts' average estimate of 67 cents, according to data compiled by LSEG. The forecast includes an 8-cent boost from estimated tariff refunds.

U.S. President Donald Trump's administration has refunded about $100 billion from tariffs it collected before the U.S. Supreme Court struck down those duties, a court filing showed earlier this month.

HP, like peers Dell Technologies, Apple and China's Lenovo Group, raised prices for its devices as a global shortage of memory chips drove up costs.

HP reported third-quarter revenue of $15.7 billion, up 12.5% from a year earlier and exceeding estimates of $14.38 billion, helped by strong demand for AI-optimized PCs.

Rival Lenovo reported a 43% jump in quarterly revenue earlier in August, benefiting from an AI hardware boom and price hikes due to the memory chip shortage.

HP's adjusted profit of 83 cents per share for the quarter ended July 31 also included a boost of 11 cents a share from tariff refunds. The adjusted earnings beat estimates of 69 cents per share.

It also raised its annual forecast for adjusted earnings per share to a range of $3.19 to $3.29, which includes a $0.19 favorable impact from estimated tariff refunds for the entire year. The laptop maker had earlier forecast annual adjusted EPS to be $2.90 to $3.10.