Hewlett Packard Enterprise Profit Up, Names Former Sprint Executive Robbiati CFO

(RTTNews) - Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) Tuesday reported an increase in profit for the third quarter, as revenues grew. The company also announced the appointment of former Sprint executive Tarek Robbiati as new financial chief.

Palo Alto, California-based Hewlett reported third-quarter profit of $451 million or $0.29 per share, up from last year's profit of $165 million or $0.0.10 per share.

On an adjusted basis, earnings were $670 million or $0.44 per share, up from $497 million or $0.30 per share last year. On average, 21 analysts polled by Thomson Reuters estimate earnings of $0.37 per share for the quarter.

Revenues for the quarter grew 3.5 percent to $7.76 billion from $7.50 billion last year. Analysts had a consensus revenue estimate of $7.68 billion for the quarter.

"HPE has delivered a strong Q3 and our results prove we have the right strategy to deliver in the areas of highest value for our customers," said Antonio Neri, President and CEO, HPE.

"Solid execution across each of our business segments, combined with market momentum, will enable us to deliver FY18 revenue and earnings well beyond our original outlook provided at our Securities Analyst Meeting last year."

Looking forward to the fourth quarter, Hewlett Packard estimates adjusted earnings of $0.39 to $0.44 per share. For fiscal 2018, Hewlett Packard Enterprise now estimates adjusted earnings of $1.50 to $1.55 per share. Analysts currently estimate earnings of $0.42 per share and $1.46 per share for the fourth quarter and full year, respectively.

Further, Hewlett Packard announced that Tarek Robbiati has been appointed chief financial officer, effective September 17, 2018.

Robbiati will succeed current CFO Tim Stonesifer, who is stepping down after playing an instrumental role in the HP turnaround and launching HPE as a new company. He will remain with the company through the end of October 2018 to help ensure a smooth transition.

Robbiati most recently served as CFO at Sprint Corp. where he was responsible for all finance functions as well as mergers and acquisitions and business development.

HPE closed Tuesday's trading at $16.74, up $0.29 or 1.76%, on the NYSE. The stock further gained $0.15 or 0.90% in the after-hours trading.