Hewlett Packard Enterprise Co. is getting more confident in its bid to grab more market share from rivals Amazon.com Inc. and Microsoft Corp. in the growing industry of cloud software technology, as it also competes for network hardware sales against Cisco Systems Inc. and Dell Technologies Inc.

HPE gave a forecast for the current quarter that topped some Wall Street estimates, signaling that it’s benefiting from recent cost cuts and a push into software and computer services aimed at lessening its dependence on hardware.

Profit excluding certain costs will be 35 cents to 39 cents a share in the fiscal third quarter, the Palo Alto, Calif.-based company said in a statement Tuesday. Analysts had projected 36 cents on average, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Second-quarter revenue and profit also exceeded analysts’ average projections, and HPE shares gained in extended trading following the report.

HPE CEO Antonio Neri has sought to diversify the hardware maker from the servers and storage solutions that generate most of its revenue. He’s tried to reshape the company into a hybrid-cloud and networking player by developing offerings for the internet-of-things and boosting its software products.

In the second quarter, which ended April 30, revenue rose 9.7% to $7.47 billion, from $6.81 billion a year earlier. Analysts had projected $7.4 billion. Profit, excluding some items, was 34 cents a share, exceeding analysts’ estimates of 31 cents. Net income in the recent period was $778 million, or 49 cents.

To produce net new revenue, or revenue that is incremental to sales completed offline, HPE developed a system of teaming its e-commerce professionals with sales reps to educate customers on how they benefit from ordering online, the company has said. That, along with making more complex products available for online purchase, has helped to win more customers over to e-commerce.

HPE is selling about 50% of its products through e-commerce, the company has said. This includes products sold by its Enterprise Online Store, where buyers can configure and order large complex systems like network servers with multiple blades or server modules for computing and data storage; and its Parts Store for ordering replacement parts. HPE also provides an online marketplace where buyers can view information on HPE products and click to the e-commerce sites of resellers and other channel partners to purchase products and services. Rohde didn’t provide more details on HPE’s e-commerce sales.

HPE agreed to buy networking firm Cape Networks in March to boost its networking arm against other internet technology providers with online sales: Cisco Systems, VMware Inc. and Dell Technologies. It also bought software firm Plexxi this month and cloud IT consulting firm RedPixie in April. The strategy is to offer a more holistic suite of offerings to its corporate clients, boost profit margins amid rising hardware memory costs and compete against cloud companies Amazon.com Inc.’s Amazon Web Services and Microsoft Corp., which offer a broad array of services over the internet.

“I was the architect of HPE Next,” Neri said in an interview, referring to the company’s program to cut costs. “Now it’s paying off on multiple fronts. The market seems to be better. In the last three months, I and the team went on acquiring things.”

Those acquisitions have helped to boost sales, but Neri said growth rates will “modulate” later this year on tough comparisons.

HPE shares were up slightly following the report and forecast. The stock, which has gained 20% in the past year, had closed at $17.41 in regular New York trading.

Neri said HPE had an easier time passing on higher component costs for its servers and data-storage to customers, by raising prices by a few percentage points. That left the company’s Hybrid IT division, which consists of the storage and server businesses, with an operating profit margin of 10.3% in the latest period, up from 9.6% in the previous quarter.

Rivals including Dell used to price their offerings more aggressively, forcing HPE to sacrifice profit margins by not passing all component costs on to customers. But Dell has to spend money paying interest on its massive debt from a leveraged buyout, so it can’t afford such a competitive pricing strategy anymore, Neri said.

A Dell spokeswoman pointed to recent remarks from executive Jeff Clarke that Dell has the largest market share in servers and storage and expects to increase its lead this year.

HPE’s Hybrid IT division generated sales of $6.02 billion, an increase of 6.8 percent from the same period a year earlier. HPE has sought to offer higher-end hardware products, including so-called hyperconverged systems that include server, storage and networking capabilities in one box. Plexxi’s software will help HPE compete against offerings from Dell and Nutanix Inc.

The company’s Intelligent Edge division—usually one of its fastest-growing units—posted revenue growth of 17% in the second quarter, with sales totaling $710 million. HPE has tried to nurture the division by building out its offerings with acquisitions, such as Cape Networks, meant to boost HPE’s artificial intelligence capabilities.

HPE’s transition to networking and higher-end servers has put the company in “better markets,” and it’s been helped by stronger customer demand, Tim Stonesifer, chief financial officer, said on a conference call with analysts.

The April period was the first full quarter under Neri, who has doubled down on the cost-cutting program installed under his predecessor, Meg Whitman. HPE is going ahead with plans to leave its traditional home in the heart of pricey Silicon Valley—and will now move to the northern side of San Jose. HPE had earlier planned to move into the offices of a company it acquired, Aruba Networks, in Santa Clara.

In February, HPE said it would return $7 billion to shareholders through the 2019 fiscal year in share repurchases and a 50% increase to its dividend beginning in the fiscal third quarter.

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