Hewlett-Packard Co. (NYSE: HPQ) reported its fiscal third quarter results after the markets closed on Thursday. The hardware maker had $0.88 in earnings per share (EPS) on $25.3 billion in revenue compared to Thomson Reuters consensus estimates that call for $0.85 in EPS on $25.44 billion in revenue. The same period from the previous year had $0.89 in EPS on $27.58 billion in revenue.

The company issued guidance for EPS in the fiscal fourth quarter in the range of $0.92 to $0.98. There are consensus estimates that call for $1.00 in EPS on $26.82 billion in revenue for the fiscal fourth quarter.

HP’s dividend payment of $0.176 per share for this quarter resulted in cash usage of $318 million. At the same time, the company also utilized $352 million to repurchase roughly 11.0 million shares of common stock.

In terms of the segment results HP reported (on a year over year basis):

• Personal Systems revenue was down 13% to $7.49 billion with a 3.0% operating margin.
• Printing revenue was down 9% to $5.11 billion with a 17.8% operating margin.
• Enterprise Group revenue was up 2% to $7.01 billion with a 13.0% operating margin.
• Enterprise Services revenue was down 11% to $4.98 billion with a 6.0% operating margin.
• Software revenue was down 6% to $900 million with a 20.6% operating margin.
• HP Financial Services revenue was down 6% year over year with a 2% decrease in net portfolio assets and a 2% decrease in financing volume.

Meg Whitman, Chairman, President and CEO of HP, commented on earnings:

HP delivered results in the third quarter that reflect very strong performance in our Enterprise Group and substantial progress in turning around Enterprise Services. I am very pleased that we have continued to deliver the results we said we would, while remaining on track to execute one of the largest and most complex separations ever undertaken.

On the books, the company had gross cash (cash, cash equivalents, short-term and some long-term investments) totaling $17.4 billion for the fiscal third quarter. The cash flow from operations in this quarter totaled $1.7 billion.

Shares of HP closed Thursday down 1.4% at $27.35 on its 52-week trading range of $27.21 to $41.10, and the low was posted today. Following the release of the earnings report, shares of HP were down about 2% at $26.93 in the after-hours trading session. The stock has a consensus analyst price target of $39.83.

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