HP profit rises in preliminary report

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Hewlett-Packard Co , on Tuesday posted better-than-expected second quarter profit, in a preliminary earnings report released shortly after it announced it would buy Electronic Data Systems Corp for about $12.6 billion.

Net income in HP's fiscal second quarter was 80 cents a share, up from 65 cents a share, on revenue of $28.3 billion.

Excluding special items, the profit was 87 cents a share, beating Wall Street estimates of of 84 cents a share, according to Reuters Estimates.

(Reporting by Franklin Paul; Editing by Derek Caney)

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