HP second-quarter operating margin rises to 10 pct

A woman walks past the Hewlett Packard logo in a file photo. Hewlett-Packard, the world's biggest computer maker, posted a rise in its quarterly operating margin on Tuesday, and pointed to strength in its international business.

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Hewlett-Packard Co (HPQ.N), the world's biggest computer maker, posted a rise in its quarterly operating margin on Tuesday, and pointed to strength in its international business.

HP also confirmed preliminary earnings figures for its fiscal second quarter released last week that showed a net profit of $2.1 billion, or 80 cents per share, compared with $1.8 billion, or 65 cents per share, a year earlier.

Revenue was $28.3 billion, up 11 percent from a year earlier.

The company also kept intact its earlier forecast for third-quarter earnings of 82 cents to 83 cents per share, excluding special items, on revenue of $27.3 billion to $27.4 billion.

Operating margin, excluding special items, was 10 percent, up from 9 percent a year earlier and 9.9 percent in the first quarter, HP said.

HP said international markets accounted for 70 percent of total revenue, with revenue from Brazil, Russia, India and China growing 26 percent over a year earlier.

(Reporting by Scott Hillis; Editing by Braden Reddall)