Topic: Growth Stocks

Wall Street Stock Forecaster Hotline Hotline – Friday, May 25, 2012

Article Excerpt

HEWLETT-PACKARD CO., $22.33, New York symbol HPQ, rose 4% this week after the company unveiled a new restructuring plan. It also reported better-than-expected sales and earnings. Hewlett’s plan mainly involves merging its personal computer and printer businesses into a single division. It will also cut 8% of its workforce over the next two years. The company expects to pay $3.5 billion in severance and other costs. However, these moves should save it $3.0 billion to $3.5 billion annually. Hewlett will put most of these savings toward developing new products and services. It’s particularly interested in fast-growing areas like cloud computing, analytics software (which lets companies track consumer purchasing and other data) and computer security. Meanwhile, the company’s sales fell 3.0% in its fiscal 2012 second quarter, which ended April 30, 2012, to $30.7 billion from $31.6 billion a year earlier. But even with the decline, Hewlett’s latest sales still beat the consensus estimate of $29.9 billion. Sales of printers fell 10%, server computers declined…