HP Is Cheap - But Does Anybody Care?

Free of the drama of former CEO Hurd's resignation and successful in grabbing 3Par away from Dell (Nasdaq: DELL), it is back to business for Hewlett-Packard (NYSE: HPQ) and its new CEO, Leo Apotheker. Although the valuation on HP shares seems very undemanding, and there is widespread analyst support for the stock, time will tell if investors buy the story and are willing to buy the stock. 

The Quarter That Was 

HP ended its fiscal year with a decent quarter. Revenue rose 8% and slightly exceeded the average analyst estimate. Within the top line, PCs were weak as expected (personal systems revenue was up 4%), while printing (up 8%), servers (up 25%) and services (up 0.4%) were better than generally expected. Software revenue increased 1%, but is far and away the smallest of the company's five major business units.

Profits also came in better than analyst expectations. GAAP net earnings rose 5%, while adjusted earnings were up about 11% and earnings per share exceeded even the high end of the analyst range. Within that, gross margin rose over a full point from last year, while non-GAAP operating margin improved a bit.

Please click below to continue:
http://stocks.investopedia.com/stock-analysis/2010/HP-Is-Cheap---But-Does-Anybody-Care-HPQ-DELL-IBM-CSCO-RIMM-ARMH1124.aspx