Topic: How To Invest

Wall Street Stock Forecaster Hotline – Friday, November 30, 2018

Article Excerpt

HP INC., $23.00, New York symbol HPQ, makes computers and printers. On November 1, 2017, HP completed its acquisition of the printer operations of Samsung Electronics. It paid $1.05 billion for the South Korea-based business. Thanks partly to that purchase, HP’s sales in its fiscal 2018 fourth quarter, ended October 31, 2018, rose 10.3%, to $15.4 billion from $13.9 billion a year earlier. That beat the consensus forecast of $15.1 billion. Personal computer sales (66% of the total) rose 11.0% as businesses continues to upgrade their computers and software. Sales of printers (34%) improved 9.1%. If you disregard costs to integrate the new operations and other unusual items, HP earned $865 million in the quarter. That’s up 15.5% from $749 million a year earlier. Due to fewer shares outstanding, earnings per share jumped 22.7%, to $0.54 from $0.44. That matched the consensus estimate. Thanks to the strong results, HP will raise its quarterly dividend by 15.0%. Starting with the January 2019 payment, investors will receive…