Laura Conigliaro, the Goldman Sachs analyst, said in a note to clients that Hewlett-Packard was in a "good position" to exceed fiscal first-quarter financial expectations.

The stock, a component of the Dow Jones Industrial Average, rallied $1.02, or 4.4 per cent, to $24.38, and reached a 2 1/2-year high of $24.52 in intraday trading.

Analysts expect earnings of $0.35 cents a share and revenue of $19.4 billion (£10.57 billion), on average, for the quarter ending January.

Conigliaro believes H-P's consumer business performed at least in line and probably better than expectations during the holiday selling season.

"We think H-P merely has to hit plan in the final month of the quarter in order to beat the numbers," Conigliaro said in a note to clients. She kept her rating at "in line," and said the stock has potential to rise to $25.

Meanwhile, Nasdaq was reported to be lobbying H-P and other blue-chips presently trading on the New York Stock Exchange in a bid to tempt them to the tech-heavy bourse.

The Wall Street Journal said Nasdaq hopes to report that H-P, one of the 30 stocks in the Dow Jones, has agreed to list its shares on both markets.

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