Hewlett Packard Enterprise lifts annual guidance amid AI demand optimism

Investing.com — Hewlett Packard Enterprise (NYSE:HPE) on Wednesday lifted its full-year earnings guidance on optimism around demand for its artificial intelligence servers, while fiscal third-quarter results beat Wall Street estimates on both the top and bottom lines.      

HPE posted third-quarter earnings per share (EPS) of $0.50 on revenue of $7.71 billion versus estimates of $0.47 and $7.66 billion, respectively.

“These results reflect our momentum in delivering on our edge-to-cloud strategy across networking, hybrid cloud, and AI,” the company said.

Analysts at Stifel, however, flagged “soft” demand within HPE’s cloud and data analysis segments, adding that the firm’s July quarter gross margin of 31.8% was below estimates due primarily to a “higher mix of AI servers.” They subsequently lowered their margin assumptions “somewhat,” noting that HPE faces “near-term gross margin pressure.”

Shares in the company were marginally lower in premarket US trading following the report.

For HPE’s fiscal fourth quarter, adjusted EPS was guided in a range of $0.76 to $0.81, above expectations of $0.55. Revenue was seen at between $8.1 billion and $8.4 billion, compared with estimates of $8.15 billion.

For the full year, adjusted EPS was projected to be in a range of $1.92 to $1.97, up from a prior estimate of $1.82 to $1.95. Revenue growth forecasts were left unchanged at a range of 1% to 3%.

Yasin Ebrahim contributed to this report.