Weaknesses in HP's (HPQ) quarter

Hewlett-Packard (NYSE: HPQ) pre-announced earnings and issued a strong forecast earlier this month. The market was pleased and expected no surprises when the big tech company put out its final results yesterday.

Things did not work out exactly as planned, a close look at the numbers shows. There were some real weaknesses in some of the firm's divisions.

Most headlines read that HP had a good quarter due to strong laptop sales. While this is true, it is only a part of the picture. The company said that for its fourth fiscal quarter ended Oct. 31, 2008, net revenue rose $33.6 billion, up 19% from a year earlier. GAAP operating profit was $2.7 billion and GAAP diluted earnings per share was $0.84, up from $0.81 in the prior-year period.

One of the largest increases in revenue among HP divisions was improvement in its services operation. Sales in this part of the company were up 99% to $8.6 billion, but almost all of that was due to the buyout of EDS. PC sales were very good, with revenue in that division rising 10% to $11.2 billion. But computers shipped were higher by 19%, which would indicate a lot of discounting.

The HP operations with the most exposure to business spending are its printer division and server division. Sales in each of these were down 1%, not exactly a stellar performance.

HP's numbers are not nearly as good as they appear on the top line. That means future quarters carry some real risk, especially if business IT spending keeps dropping.

Douglas A. McIntyre is an editor at 247wallst.com.