HPE beats expectations for Q3, delivers revenue of $6.9 billion | ZDNet

HPE delivered better-than-expected third quarter earnings on Thursday and the company says its edge-to-cloud strategy is driving improved momentum across its businesses.

The enterprise software player reported third quarter revenue of $6.9 billion, up 1% from a year ago, and an non-GAAP EPS of 47 cents a share. 

Analysts were expecting earnings of 42 cents per share on revenue of $6.93 billion. Shares of HPE were down 0.71% after hours.

Elsewhere on the balance sheet, HPE said compute and mission critical systems revenue was $741 million. Storage revenue was $1.2 billion, up 4% from the prior-year period. Within that segment, Nimble revenue was up 10% and revenue from All Flash Array Storage products were up more than 30%.

Meanwhile, Intelligent Edge revenue was $867 million, up 27% from the prior-year period, and compute revenue was $3.1 billion, down 9% from the prior-year period. Financial Services revenue grew to $844 million, up 4% from the prior-year period.

HPE said it had Q3 annualized revenue run rate of $705 million, up 33% from the same quarter last year.

As for the outlook, HPE said it expects fourth quarter earnings between $0.44 and $0.52. For the fiscal year, HPE now expects earnings in the range of $1.88 and $1.96 a share, up from its previous range of $1.82 and $1.94 per share. 

Antonio Neri, president and CEO of Hewlett Packard Enterprise, said the company had strong order growth, expanded margins and record free cash flow for Q3.

“I am pleased to see how our differentiated portfolio is resonating with the market, and our edge-to-cloud strategy is driving improved momentum across our businesses,” Neri said. 

“The impacts of the pandemic continue to accelerate the shift we predicted years ago to an edge-centric, cloud-enabled and data-driven world. Now, more than ever, companies need secure connectivity, faster insights from data, and a cloud experience everywhere. We expect those trends to continue. Digital transformation is no longer a priority but a strategic imperative,” Neri added.

Tarek Robbiati, EVP and CFO of Hewlett Packard Enterprise, noted that the company was again raising its full-year guidance to reflect the continued momentum in the demand environment.

“This marks the fourth increase in our outlook since our Securities Analyst Meeting in October 2020,” Robbiati said.