Hewlett-Packard Co. (HP)’s fourth-quarter profits have boosted 28 percent higher than its last period. This achievement has exceeded Wall Street’s expectations. Recently, there are strong demand from commercial customers for HP’s laptop and printer ink. The company has made US$8 billion for stock buybacks, a sign the company believes its shares are undervalued.

HP’s growth has been fueled much by strong PC sales. Most profits of its company are made from highly profitable printer ink. HP’s sales has jumped 15 percent over last year to US$28.29 billion, nearly US$1 billion more than the US$27.4 billion Wall Street was expecting. The laptop sales has jumped 49 percent over last year to US$5.16 billion, this is the company’s highest-selling single category. On the desktop computer sales, the company has made up US$4.21 billion.

HP derived 42 percent of its US$2.63 billion in total operating profits in the latest quarter from its Imaging and Printing Group, which is nearly double the amount contributed by the Personal Systems Group. Most investors were particularly interested this quarter in whether HP was hurt that happened because of the mortgage distress in the U.S., which has saddled banks with billions of dollars in losses.

HP said it expected to continue taking market share from other makers. HP has cautioned investors against expecting the PC business to keep up its rapid gains.