NEW YORK (Bloomberg) — Hewlett-Packard Co. rose the most in six months as chief executive officer Mark Hurd reported better-than-anticipated earnings and a forecast that indicates the computer maker may be shielded from a slowing global economy.

Demand for notebooks and orders in Europe and Asia spurred a 14 percent increase in third-quarter profit and a 10 percent gain in sales, beating analysts' projections. Hewlett-Packard's earnings forecast for the current period also topped estimates.

Hewlett-Packard, the world's largest personal-computer maker, said notebook sales jumped 26 percent, a sign that new designs are helping the company counter Dell Inc.'s effort to sell through retailers. Notebooks represent a significant opportunity for growth in countries outside the US, which account for about two-thirds of sales, Hurd said.

"The results and forecast increase my confidence in the H-P story," said Bill Kreher, an analyst at Edward Jones in St. Louis. He recommends buying the shares and doesn't own any. "Despite a strong push into retail by Dell, H-P was able to hold its share."

Hewlett-Packard, based in Palo Alto, California, gained $1.57, or 3.6 percent, to $45.26 at 9:54 a.m. in New York Stock Exchange composite trading and rose as high as $45.67 in the biggest advance since February 20. The shares had declined 13 percent this year before yesterday, compared with a less than one-percent drop for Round Rock, Texas-based Dell.

Hurd, 51, credited the gains to Hewlett-Packard's global reach, mix of customers and range of products. Revenue in Brazil, Russia, India and China gained 24 percent, while sales in Europe increased 16 percent.

"The key difference with Hewlett and Dell is Hewlett is a much more diversified company," said Shaw Wu, an analyst at American Technology Research in San Francisco. "It's the broadness of their portfolio and international mix that allows them to do better."

Net income rose to $2.03 billion, or 80 cents a share, in the quarter ended July 31, Hewlett-Packard said yesterday. Excluding acquisition costs, profit was 86 cents, exceeding the 84 cents anticipated by analysts in a Bloomberg survey.

Sales rose 10 percent to $28 billion, compared with the average estimate of $27.4 billion by analysts. Excluding the effects of currency translation, sales advanced 5 percent.

For the fourth quarter, revenue will be $30.2 billion to $30.3 billion, and profit, excluding some costs, will be $1.01 to $1.03 a share. Analysts surveyed by Bloomberg had anticipated $30.3 billion in revenue and $1 a share in profit.

"You've got a lot of places around the planet where the only access to the digital content out there is through a notebook and a wireless card," Hurd said on a conference call with reporters. "We have a significant opportunity."

While a strengthening dollar may put "downward pressure" on revenue this quarter, it didn't have a noticeable effect on the company's forecast, Chief Financial Officer Cathie Lesjak said.

Hurd has beaten analysts' profit estimates in every quarter since he took over from Carly Fiorina in April 2005. The company recaptured the PC-market lead in 2006 after trimming prices and using its network of 80,000 US retailers to reach customers.

Overall computer revenue rose 15 percent. Desktop PC sales gained six percent at a time when most buyers are switching to notebooks.

"They even had growth in desktops," Roger Kay, an analyst at technology researcher Endpoint Technologies Inc. in Wayland, Massachusetts, said in an interview. "Who's growing in desktops?"

Dell CEO Michael Dell is now copying Hewlett-Packard's retail strategy, selling machines through more than 13,000 stores, and refashioning the company's PCs to make them more appealing to buyers.