NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Shares of Hewlett-Packard Co. (HPQ) - Get Report are down 0.68% to $32.21 in afternoon trading today as market research firm IDC lowered its PC outlook for this year.

Worldwide PC shipments are expected to fall by 4.9% in 2015, a drop from the previous forecast of negative 3.3%, IDC said.

However, growth projections for 2016 and 2017 were raised slightly, according to the International Data Corporation Worldwide Quarterly PC Tracker.

Fourth quarter 2014 results were 1.7% ahead of forecast, but economic and product changes will create a head wind in the short term, IDC noted.

Total 2015 volume is projected at 293.1 million PCs, slipping a little further to 291.4 million in 2019.

In value terms, the PC market reached $201 billion in 2014, a decline of 0.8%, and is expected to fall another 6.9% in 2015 with smaller declines in subsequent years bringing the total to $175 billion by 2019. 

This comes as Barclays downgraded the company to "equal weight" from "overweight" last week and cut its price target to $35 from $42, citing currency risks and its impact on PC and printer trends.

HP cut guidance for 2015 by 30 cents on February 24, citing currency risks. HP carries about 35% exposure to the EMEA region, which is largely euro denominated, Barclays analysts noted.

Insight from TheStreet's Research Team:

TheStreet's guest contributor, Bob Lang, technical expert of Trifectastocks.com, took a look at the stock's action. Here's a snippet of what he had to say:

HPQ daily

The head/shoulders pattern played out as mentioned by The Street's Ed Ponsi on RealMoneyPro.com prior and the drop post earnings was dramatic on very heavy volume. There is gap resistance at just over 35 where we should expect to see the next bounce encounter failure. Given the surging volume on the decline it appears institutional selling was much bigger than the drop in October. The RSI is well under 30 and could be due for a bounce but that will likely be sold, the MACD about to cross over as well to a short term buy signal. Regardless, oversold does not mean buy as that condition could last longer than anyone expects.

HPQ weekly

This chart [below] shows the heavy concentration of selling over the last few weeks and the MACD is solidly on a sell signal. The %R is oversold now but can stay that way (just as an overbought condition can remain). The long trendline from 2013 was violated post earnings so that will now be resistance, but the recent low was stopped at the late 2014 level, so it may have stopped retreating. Regardless, the trend is still down and the stock is very difficult to play on a technical basis.

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Separately, TheStreet Ratings team rates HEWLETT-PACKARD CO as a Buy with a ratings score of B. TheStreet Ratings Team has this to say about their recommendation:

"We rate HEWLETT-PACKARD CO (HPQ) a BUY. This is driven by several positive factors, which we believe should have a greater impact than any weaknesses, and should give investors a better performance opportunity than most stocks we cover. The company's strengths can be seen in multiple areas, such as its attractive valuation levels and solid stock price performance. We feel these strengths outweigh the fact that the company has had sub par growth in net income." You can view the full analysis from the report here: HPQ Ratings Report