HAMPTON, N.H. – In calendar 4Q17 HP Inc.’s revenue grew 14% year-to-year to $14.5 billion, marking five consecutive quarters of revenue growth. This growth was the result of improvement across all of its segments, according to data in its most recent earnings report.

HP Inc. noted 10%, 13% and 18% growth in the Americas, EMEA and APAC, respectively. Inside its product segments, Personal Systems grew 15% year-to-year to $9.4 billion and Printing expanded 14% year-to-year to $5.1 billion. Corporate gross margin increased 10 basis points year-to-year to 17.8% in 4Q17, an increase led by an improved printing mix but moderated by increasing component costs. Operating margin was 6.7% in 4Q17, flat year-to-year. Long-term efforts to decrease operating expenses were offset by assets gained from the Samsung acquisition.

In Personal Systems Notebooks, Desktops and Workstations grew 14%, 17% and 11% year-to-year, respectively, in 4Q17. Consumer revenue increased 13% year-to-year, and commercial revenue increased 16% year-to-year. Operating margin decreased 20 basis points year-to-year due to rising component costs. HP Inc. credits its premium lineup and unique form factors for driving buyer interest.

TBR believes the company is taking advantage of a wave of PC refreshes as consumers and enterprises replace aging devices. HP Inc.’s double-digit growth is at the expense of Lenovo and Dell Technologies, TBR believes. {Lenovo ranks No. 2 and Dell No. 3 in global PC sales behind HP.] While offering no data to support it, HP Inc. also noted it is gaining traction in Device as a Service and aims to be the premier multi-OS solution.

In Printing, HP Inc. reports total hardware units increased 14% year-to-year with consumer units up 7% and commercial units up 73% in 4Q17. TBR believes the explosive growth in commercial units is the success of graphics printing, driven by HP Inc.’s Indigo and PageWide series, driving deals such as ePac Flexible Packaging purchasing 10 additional HP Indigo 20000 digital presses in February, on top of their existing three.

HP Inc. is also noting success in Managed Print Services as enterprises shift to contractual printing, and in A4 and A3 printing bolstered by its acquisition of Samsung’s printing assets and relationships.

Also, while TBR believes it is not yet profitable, HP Inc. noted additional customers in 3D printing such as FedEx and the U.S. Marine Corps.

(C) TBR