HP Joins Other Tech Earnings, Distancing Itself from Cisco Woes (HPQ, IBM, DELL, CSCO)

Hewlett-Packard Co. (NYSE: HPQ) is out with earnings and the IT and PC giant reported $1.33 EPS on $33.28 billion in revenues.  Thomson Reuters had estimates of $1.27 EPS on revenue of $32.75 billion.   As far as guidance ahead, HP sees $1.28 to $1.30 in non-GAAP EPS on revenues of $32.8 to $33.0 billion.  Estimates from Thomson Reuters for the first quarter ending in January are $1.22 EPS and $32.74 billion in revenues. For fiscal 2011, the company now sees $5.16 to $5.26 adjust EPS on revenues of $132 to $133.5 billion versus estimates of $5.11 EPS on $132.42 billion in revenues.

Today’s news is substantially better than the EPS of $1.08 the company posted in the third quarter and should offer some stability since it had previously guided.  More importantly, this is going to highlight that the fresh woes of Cisco Systems Inc. (NASDAQ: CSCO) are company-specific rather than industry-wide.

The solid showing from competitor IBM Corp. (NYSE: IBM) and Dell Inc. (NASDAQ: DELL) having reported better-than-expected third quarter results should show a bit more stability as Cisco Systems Inc. (NASDAQ: CSCO) had more caution than its peers.  Today’s news is just more and more proof that John Cambers and Cisco are witnessing more of a company-wide issue specific to its own situation rather than a broader technology market.

HP is still alive without Mark Hurd.  The company generated $3.2 billion in cash from operations in the quarter.  The company noted that it saw 50% organic growth in HP Networking as 3Com revenue was ahead of plan.  It also noted ESS growth of 25% and growth in commercial PC Clients and Printers of 20% and 22%, respectively.  The other gain was in non-GAAP operating margin, which grew 0.2% from a year ago to 12.0% from 11.8%; HP noted that its gross margin came in at 24.8%.

HP shares closed up 1.8% at $43.25 and the shares are trading at $43.89 in the after-hours session versus a 52-week trading range of $37.32 to $54.75.

JON C. OGG