HP suffers from a strong dollar: Earnings per share beat expectations but revenues fall
Hewlett Packard has beaten expectations with its first quarter results, with earnings per share above expectations by one cent at $0.92. Revenue, however, fell below analyst forecasts, coming in at $26.8bn, below $27.35bn expectations. The results came after the market's close, but stocks were reported down by as much as six per cent in after hours trading.
Why it’s interesting
HP is facing a busy year: the electronics giant is looking to spin off its legacy printer and PC business unto a company named HP Inc, while packaging corporate cloud, hardware and software businesses under the name HP Enterprises. The move was announced in October. HP will be focusing on cloud computing, as its recent acquisition of Eucalyptus shows.
It’s taken a long while to get here; HP has been restructuring for the best part of five years, during which time it has often struggled.
The last set of results for the company weren’t spectacular by any measure. Earnings per share came in at $1.06 bang on expectations, while revenue, at $28.4bn, was two per cent down on expectations.
UK investors keep an eye out for HP, not least because of its $11bn purchase of UK company Autonomy back in 2011.
What HP said
HP said it had battled currency difficulties in the first quarter, but that second quarter profits may be down due to the strong dollar. It expected second quarter earnings to be between 84 and 88 cents per share. chief executive Meg Whitman has said she expects the company to be more customer focused, and to invest more in innovation. HP hopes that 2015 will be a year of change and acceleration.
In short
HP, like many companies, is driving into the currency headwinds. It has made major changes, specifically splitting its operations in two and cutting workforce by 41,000 to 275,000,