When a technology giant and industry bellwether like HP reports its quarterly earnings, analysts watch closely. HP is set to report its earnings for the first quarter of the fiscal year tomorrow, and the consensus on Wall Street is that it will deliver a solid balance sheet.
Datamation previews the company’s earnings, and takes note of where HP is headed.
Hewlett-Packard will announce fiscal first quarter numbers after the close of trading on Wednesday, giving the world a good look at the state of the venerable technology giant — and of the industry at large, considering HP’s bellwether roles in PCs, servers and its more recent ascendancy to a strong services position with the acquisition of EDS.
Though early expectations are that HP (NYSE: HPQ) will post another solid quarter, the real questions are what will be the bright spots in the company’s vast portfolio. For much of 2009, it was the services business pulling things along while the rest of the company’s business fell by double digits year-over-year.
Analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters estimate HP will pull in about $29.96 billion, only a 4 percent gain over the $28.8 billion of last year. Earnings per share is expected to be in the $1.06 range, a 17 percent improvement over the $0.93 range from a year ago.
UBS analyst Arun Sharma has issued his own report and estimates, which are fairly close to the consensus figures from Thomson Reuters. He puts revenue at $29.95 billion and EPS at $1.05.
