Hewlett-Packard Co. (NYSE: HPQ) has reported Q3 earnings and the company is about to have a live conference call here in a bit, at 5 p.m. EST. The consensus estimates have stated some pretty lofty goals for the world's largest tech company to hit. Right now, Wall Street has stapled a $0.65 EPS figure on CEO Mark Hurd's forehead, which represents a 20% YoY gain for the PC and printer manufacturer and marketer. Can it hit this looming and large target Thursday? Find out here in a few minutes.Revenues were expected to be in the range of $23.9 billion to $24.2 billion for the quarter. If HP keeps inline with the growth that many industry pundits expect, it will crack the $100 billion in sales per fiscal year barrier very soon. With all the internal activity HP has generated in the last year (like the Mercury Interactive acquisition), year-ago quarter comps are a little tricky (if even possible), but one thing is clear: HP is doing way more right things under CEO Hurd than wrong things.
In fact, every time I hear Hurd speak on quarterly conference calls, the man seems to have the perfect blend of financial, operational and sales savvy that a $100 billion CEO should have. He exudes cool confidence and you can tell he has all his plays under his jacket at all times, though he does not reveal most of them. I'm quite of the belief that he is the right person to lead HP, and from recent quarterly financial results and guidance, I stand by that opinion. We'll see if Hurd is further vindicated below. With that, let's begin. Remember to use the "Refresh" key on your web browser to refresh this post every few minutes. All times below are in EST.



