HP: Good To Grow

Not to be outdone by the 8 Golds won in Beijing by Michael Phelps, or Jamaica's Usain Bolt's 100-200m World Record double, Hewlett-Packard (HPQ) showed its quickness in dealing with eroding economic conditions and the apparent stagnation in technology spending. The company reported a quarter besting analyst expectations in all key metrics, sending shares higher.

The computer company reported earnings of $2.03Billion ($0.80/share and $0.86/share excluding certain costs), which compared favourably to the $0.84/share expected by analysts. On the revenue side, the street wanted $27.4Billion, but got $28Billion, another plus for HPQ. These positive kept coming for Investors in the form of guidance where HPQ was once again ahead of the curve, hitting analyst expectations for revenue and guiding profit a couple cents higher than previously anticipated.