(Reuters) On October 23, Fujitsu Limited raised its half-year group operating profit outlook by 45 percent on based on improved sales of hard disk drives and network devices, as well as increased revenues from building computer systems for business. The revision is the second this year by Fujitsu, which is racking up sales growth on higher spending in Japan on information technology equipment. Fujitsu kept its full-year operating profit forecast of 190 billion yen. 

Revenues usually surge at the end of the business year in March, making forecasting difficult, said Eisuke Sato, a Fujitsu spokesman. Analysts say Fujitsu’s annual estimate is conservative, and the outlook is below a market consensus of 203 billion yen by 19 analysts polled by Reuters. “If Fujitsu’s profitability on its domestic services business is improving significantly, this may change our view on the company,” Morgan Stanley’s Naoki Sato said in a report. Sato kept his rating on Fujitsu at “equal weight” after the announcement. 

Fujitsu raised its operating profit forecast for the April-September period to about 50.6 billion yen ($426 million), up from its July target of 35 billion yen. The company, which competes with IBM and Electronic Data Systems Corp. (EDS) in the computer and software services business, also raised its first-half net profit forecast to about 14.8 billion yen, up from its earlier projection of 5 billion yen. 

“The numbers are good,” said Koichi Ogawa, chief portfolio manager at Daiwa SB Investments. “I think it will be a positive for the stock price. While the numbers themselves, the levels of profit, are relatively low, this is a big upward revision.” The company, which aims to become one of the world’s top three makers of hard disk drives (an industry now led by Seagate Technology), has been aggressively cutting production costs and seeking out clients such as Dell Inc.