The Palo Alto, Calif., company’s 16 percent second-quarter profit grew to $2.1 billion, matching preliminary results that HP released last week.

Tuesday’s announcement was accompanied by more context, including a discussion by corporate leaders about their plans for extracting more profits and a look at the performance of the printing and imaging group, which employs at least 1,000 people in Vancouver.

Imaging and printing

Imaging and printing reported revenue growth of 6 percent over the same quarter a year ago, to $7.6 billion. The division’s operating profit fell a tenth of a percent from a year earlier, to $1.2 billion.

Sales of printers and printer hardware climbed, with revenue up 2 percent and unit shipments up 4 percent.

Vancouver engineers contribute to the design of inkjet printers, which make up a shrinking portion of a division that now includes large-format­ printers, color laser­ printers, and a growing focus on print services for large business customers.

“Inkjets actually looked pretty strong,” Mark Hurd, HP chief executive, said in a conference call Tuesday. Demand for these printers was up in the U.S., even as American demand for some other products declined, he said.

HP is investing in sales and new product development in some areas of the imaging and printing group, said Cathie Lesjak, executive vice president and chief financial officer. But the company is also continuing ongoing cuts aimed at making the division more efficient, she said.

Company officials have not commented on how these cuts have affected east Vancouver operations or will affect operations here in the future, other than to confirm that the company’s  Clark County campus is for sale. Officials say they plan to lease office space after selling the real estate including 174 acres and six buildings.

Diversification

HP’s second-quarter net revenue of $28.3 billion was up 11 percent over a year ago, but growth in the U.S. was flat, and 70 percent of revenue now comes from outside the country, the company said.

A growing presence around the planet is part of a broader strategy of diversification, Hurd said.

The company wants to diversify across the globe, across customers, and across business offerings, he said, and that desire spurred HP’s announcement last week that it would pay $13.2 billion to acquire technology services company Electronic Data Systems­ of Texas.

Some shareholders have been less confident in this assessment, and HP’s shares have fallen since the EDS agreement was announced.
Hurd emphasized his belief that the purchase will  be a good deal, although HP will have to trim EDS to absorb it.

“We are a great engineering and a great customer service company, but we have a market coverage problem,” Hurd said. “EDS will give opportunities for new business growth.”

HP shares (HPQ) closed at $46.46 Tuesday, down 25 cents before the after-market earnings release.

Courtney Sherwood covers high-tech businesses. Reach her at 360-735-4553 or courtney.sherwood@columbian.com.