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Shares of tech giant Hewlett-Packard (NYSE: HPQ) are getting a nice lift today after the company surprised Wall Street by lifting its fourth quarter estimates this morning.Before today's announcement, analysts had been expecting the company show earnings of $1.00 a share when it announces its official numbers next Monday (Nov. 24), but the company stated today it is now expecting to show adjusted earnings of $1.03.
The decision to lift its forecast has resulted in some nice gains for HPQ shareholders today, as the stock has traded up 10.5% to $32.41, and earlier in the session hit an intraday high all the way up at $33.84.
According to today's announcement, the company is benefiting from "global reach, diverse customer base, broad portfolio and numerous cost initiatives."
Should the company actually be able to pull off its increased earnings estimate, it will be a rarity in the industry. Several other main tech companies have been getting hit lately, as the economic slowdown has applied the brakes to consumer and business spending. Earlier this month, Cisco Systems (NASDAQ: CSCO) warned that its sales numbers for October were weak, and that the current quarter will also show weakness. Last week, the company came out and slashed both revenue and earnings forecast for its fourth quarter.
H-P will be releasing its official numbers next Monday, and I will be sure to update you on just how strong the company's fourth quarter really was.
Michael Fowlkes has worked as a stock trader for seven years and spent the last four years working as an analyst for the online investment advisory service Investor's Observer.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
11-18-2008 @ 2:20PM
Uri said...
This new bonus scheme could have the desired effect. Or it could cause those receiving the bonus to treat their bonuses as 1/3 of what it used to be and if you get the rest then great. Otherwise, 1/3 of the old bonuses is still very good money. The 1/3 is still large enough that traders will gun for increasing that amount at any cost. Maybe if the ratio were lower - like 1/10 (enough to make compensation comparable with other high skill jobs without delivering long term results).
11-21-2008 @ 9:52AM
Jon Edwards said...
A class action lawsuit will be filed today ( In D.C. district of federal court) focusing in on the following:
1) Misrepresentation of components in a HP computer
2) Misrepresentation of warranty and who is authorized to do warranty work
3) Support centers using outdated OSs which don't match the OS offered by HP
4) Case managers also doing the above
5) Unwillingness to honor warranty stipulations.
Some Information will be given to SEC for possible investigation. What they do is anyone's guess. We have narrowly focused the lawsuit on items that are well-documented and left out any items that could be subject to interpretation. All items show clear “intent” of management and support to misrepresent the actual truth.