UPDATED 05:35 EDT / NOVEMBER 26 2015

NEWS

HP’s final quarter is one to forget

The two entities that once made Hewlett-Packard Co. have posted mixed results in their final earnings report together.

The already-split enterprise posted combined revenues of $25.7 billion in its last quarter, slightly below analysts’ expectations and a nine percent drop from one year ago. Meanwhile, adjusted earnings per share of $0.93 were below Wall Street’s hopes of $0.97 per share.

Anyone familiar with the company’s struggles ahead of its split will not be surprised at the disappointing last quarter. But the interesting part comes when we hone in for a closer look at the consumer business, now known as HP Inc., which saw sales drop across the board. The news will surely come as an unwelcome shock to investors who’d rushed to buy up HP Inc. shares in the wake of the November 1 split.

HP Inc. reported declining sales of its commercial software, personal computers, printers and tech services for the quarter ending October 31. Even worse, sales of its ink cartridges, which make up more than 90 percent of income, also plummeted, causing the company’s shares to tank by 14 percent to $12.61 in midday trading.

Things were somewhat more positive over at HP Enterprise (HPE), the new business that accounts for HP’s servers, storage, networking and IT services, where sales across the board rose by three percent. The biggest improvement was seen in HPE’s networking business, which saw sales rise by 35 percent, and server sales, which grew by five percent. Even so, these improvements were offset by a disappointing quarter for its storage and specialized server businesses, which fell by seven and eight percent respectively.

Despite these contrasting fortunes, HPE’s new CEO Meg Whitman insisted that splitting the company in two was the right thing to do. “The wisdom behind the split is becoming apparent. You can already start to feel it,” she said. “The two companies are more nimble and more agile than they were combined… Now they’re off and running.”

Whitman added that HPE is now focused on growing its revenues and operating profits for the next year, and freeing up extra cash for its “innovation roadmap” that aims to build up its enterprise services business.

As for HP Inc.’s new CEO Dion Weisler, he was somewhat glummer than his counterpart, admitting that the last quarter was a difficult one and “somewhat weaker than we expected”. Even so, Weisler said he was confident that HP Inc. is well positioned in the long-term to overcome the challenges it faces.

Image credit: Oldiefan via pixabay.com

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