Re-opening could hurt HP’s sales

Article Excerpt

HP INC. $30 remains a hold. The maker of personal computers and printers (New York symbol HPQ; Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 1.2 billion; Market cap: $36.0 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 0.6; Dividend yield: 3.3%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.hp.com) is raising your quarterly dividend by 29.0% with the January 2022 payment, to $0.25 a share from. The new annual rate of $1.00 yields 3.3%. HP also expects its earnings will rise from $3.73 a share in the fiscal year ending October 31, 2021 to between $4.07 to $4.27 a share in fiscal 2022. The stock trades at just 7.2 times the midpoint of that 2022 range. That low p/e reflects investor concerns that demand for new computers, which surged during the pandemic as people worked from home, will slow as businesses and schools re-open. The worldwide chip shortage could also slow its sales. HP Inc. is a hold. hold…