Interim CEO and Chief Financial Officer Cathie Lesjak said in a prepared statement.”HP has a strong balance sheet,”  “We plan to be active in repurchasing our shares, and we expect to repurchase at least $3 billion worth of our shares in our fiscal fourth quarter at current price levels.”

HP, the Palo Alto computer giant, bought back about $2.6 billion in the third quarter, the company said. In November 2009, HP had put aside $8 billion for buybacks. HP has approximately $4.9 billion remaining to buy back its stock.

HP is currently in  a bidding war with Texas computer maker Dell (Nasdaq: DELL) to purchase  data-storage company 3Par (NYSE: PAR). HP’s current offer is $2 billion for 3Par.

Shares of HP rose 3 percent this morning to $39.11.