Today’s Change
Current Price
HP (HPQ -2.92%), a personal computers and printing hardware provider, closed at $29.62, down 2.93%. Investors focused on weak PC shipment trends and margin pressure from higher memory and commodity costs, while watching component costs and PC demand. Trading volume reached 38.4M shares, coming in about 118% above its three-month average of 17.6M shares.
How the markets moved today
S&P 500 (^GSPC +0.72%) closed at 7,730, up 0.71%, and the Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC +1.57%) closed at 26,541, up 1.57%. Among personal computers, printers, and related technology hardware names, Dell Technologies (DELL +1.82%) closed at $471.80, up 1.72%, while Apple (AAPL +0.36%) closed at $314.58, up 0.36%, highlighting a firmer tone for sector rivals despite HP’s decline.
What this means for investors
HP reported sales and adjusted EPS growth of 13% and 11% in Q3, easily surpassing Wall Street estimates, but the stock dipped 3% today regardless. Even accounting for a tariff benefit, HP still beat expectations for the quarter. However, despite raising guidance to generate roughly $3.1 billion in free cash flow this year, HPQ stock slid as PC shipments declined 16% and margins contracted. Most of HP’s sales growth came from price increases implemented to offset soaring input costs.
That said, I’d argue Q3’s growth shows a decent bit of pricing power, even if shipments dropped, but it’s not a long-term solution. Furthermore, HP’s AI PC unit posted double-digit sales growth and now accounts for 46% of its PC business. Management believes this figure will exceed 70% by 2028, providing the company with a few years of promising replacement-cycle opportunities.
Trading at 10 times forward earnings and guiding to earning $3.1 billion in FCF versus an enterprise value of $33 billion, HPQ stock remains quite cheap, but operates in a brutally competitive industry.
