Profit, excluding some items, will be US$2.24 a share to US$2.32 a share in fiscal 2020, the Palo Alto, California-based company said yesterday in a statement.
Analysts, on average, estimated US$2.24, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
In the fiscal fourth quarter, the hardware maker’s sales and adjusted profit topped analysts’ projections.
HP’s earnings report comes during an increasingly contentious debate with Xerox about a blockbuster combination that would reshape the printing industry.
Xerox said it plans to go directly to HP’s shareholders, adding that HP’s refusal to engage on the US$22-a-share offer “defies logic.”
On Sunday, HP reiterated its stance that it has many options to create value for shareholders, other than accepting the offer valued at more than US$33 billion in cash and stock and wasn’t “dependent on a Xerox combination.”
“The results show that our strategy is working and we’re driving both short and long-term value creation,” Chief Executive Officer Enrique Lores said in a press briefing.
Fiscal fourth-quarter revenue came in at US$15.4 billion, little changed from a year ago, and ahead of analysts’ average estimate of US$15.3 billion.
Shares gained about 2.5% in extended trading after the results were announced.
Earlier, the stock closed at US$20.06 in New York and has declined about 2% this year.
Xerox has made a move for HP to consolidate the printing business at a time when both companies are stumbling.
HP’s printing division, a major source of profit, has seen falling sales because of weaker demand for ink supplies.
HP has announced a major restructuring to stabilise the company, which could result in as much as a 16% reduction of its workforce by the end of fiscal 2022.
“Related to Xerox, I feel like we have seen this movie before when Carl Icahn meddled with Dell in a similar way,” said Patrick Moorhead, an analyst at Moor Insights & Strategy.
“Xerox is a third of the size of HP, has been steadily declining in revenue, is running out of options, and needs HP more than HP needs it.”
In the period ended Oct 31, sales in the printing division fell 6% to US$4.98 billion, with ink supplies dropping 7%. Consumer revenue declined 10% and commercial sales decreased by 2%.
“We continue to lead in a tough market,” Lores said of the printing industry.
“We continue to grow in the categories that we consider important,” such as managed print services and instant-ink delivery services.
Revenue from personal computers increased 4% to US$10.4 billion, with 8% growth in commercial revenue offsetting a 4% decline in consumer sales.
Corporate clients are upgrading their computers to adopt Microsoft Corp’s Windows 10 operating system.