HP beats Dell in 3Q computer sales

10/20/06 - newratings.com

NEW YORK, October 20 (newratings.com) – Hewlett-Packard (HPQ) has overtaken Dell as the world's biggest personal computer maker by shipments for the first time in three years, according to research published by two influential market research groups.
The studies conducted by Gartner indicate that Hewlett-Packard’s personal-computer shipments jumped by 15% to 9.65 million computers in the third quarter, while Dell’s rose 3.6% to 9.54 million. Dell has been the best-selling computer since 2003. Although both the companies claim the same market share of 17.2%, Hewlett-Packard’s third-quarter sales growth was impressive, according to the report by IDC. Forbes quoted analysts at Zacks.com as saying that Dell is expected to report a 37% decline in earnings per share for the third quarter.