HP (NYSE:HPQ) Releases Q1 Earnings Guidance

HP (NYSE:HPQ) updated its first quarter earnings guidance on Tuesday. The company provided earnings per share (EPS) guidance of $0.70-0.76 for the period, compared to the consensus estimate of $0.85. HP also updated its FY25 guidance to $3.45-3.75 EPS.

HP Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:HPQ traded down $0.22 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $39.08. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 11,786,351 shares, compared to its average volume of 7,759,184. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $36.47 and its 200 day simple moving average is $35.46. The stock has a market capitalization of $37.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.79, a PEG ratio of 2.62 and a beta of 1.07. HP has a fifty-two week low of $27.42 and a fifty-two week high of $39.79.

HP (NYSE:HPQ) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, August 28th. The computer maker reported $0.83 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.86 by ($0.03). HP had a net margin of 5.33% and a negative return on equity of 266.37%. The business had revenue of $13.52 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $13.37 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.86 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 2.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts anticipate that HP will post 3.39 EPS for the current year.

HP declared that its board has approved a stock buyback plan on Wednesday, August 28th that authorizes the company to buyback $10.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the computer maker to purchase up to 28.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are generally an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have issued reports on HPQ shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target on shares of HP from $42.00 to $41.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, November 20th. Bank of America cut HP from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $37.00 price target for the company. in a report on Friday, September 27th. Barclays lowered their price objective on HP from $33.00 to $32.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, August 29th. Citigroup cut HP from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $37.00 target price for the company. in a research report on Tuesday, October 1st. Finally, Morgan Stanley lowered their price target on shares of HP from $37.00 to $36.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, August 29th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $35.45.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Enrique Lores sold 211,501 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $33.16, for a total value of $7,013,373.16. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 3 shares in the company, valued at approximately $99.48. This trade represents a 100.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 0.41% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

About HP

HP Inc provides products, technologies, software, solutions, and services to individual consumers, small- and medium-sized businesses, and large enterprises, including customers in the government, health, and education sectors worldwide. It operates through Personal Systems and Printing segments. The Personal Systems segment offers commercial personal computers (PCs), consumer PCs, workstations, thin clients, commercial tablets and mobility devices, retail point-of-sale systems, displays and other related accessories, software, support, and services for the commercial and consumer markets.