H-P Hits New High, Sees PC Boost
PALO ALTO, Calif. (
) -- Hot on the heels of
Intel's
(INTC) - Get Intel Corporation Report
earlier this week,
Hewlett-Packard
, whose shares have risen more than 55% in the last 12 months, hit a
on Wednesday.
The tech giant, which reports its second-quarter results next month, has been
attracting attention from investors
keen to tap into future growth and is expected to reap the benefits of improved tech spending.
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"We have been commenting about strong tech trends for the past six months," wrote Louis Miscioscia, an analyst at Collins Stewart, in a note released on Thursday. "We are raising our numbers on H-P, mainly due to better growth and ASPs in PCs, along with strength in servers."
Miscioscia now expects H-P to earn $4.55 a share and post revenue of $124 billion in fiscal 2010, up from his prior estimates of $4.46 a share and $123 billion.
H-P, which completed its
acquisition of 3Com
earlier this week, has also been feeling the love from tech research firm
Gartner
, which released its latest PC figures on Wednesday.
During the first quarter, worldwide PC shipments grew 27.4% year-over-year, according to the research firm, with H-P enjoying almost 20% growth. Gartner cites H-P as the dominant force in the PC arena, with 18.2% market share, although this dipped from 19.3% in the same period last year.
"H-P continued to be the leader in worldwide PC shipments, but its growth was below the worldwide average," said Gartner in a statement, explaining that Asian rivals such as
Acer
and
Lenovo
pose a threat. "However, H-P's strength could be apparent as the professional market rebounds," it added.
Last month H-P
revised its first-quarter results
as a result of long-standing litigation related to its EDS division, but its second-quarter is starting to look rosy.
"After Intel's results, and Gartner posting
first-quarter PC growth estimates, we believe trends are even better than we'd thought previously," wrote Collins Stewart's Miscioscia. "Other pockets of H-P's business should also be experiencing positive trends - most likely printing/supplies
and software, with services lagging so far in the pickup."
H-P, which competes with
Apple
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and
Dell
(DELL) - Get Dell Technologies Inc Class C Report
in the computer market, is also planning to launch its own
later this year. Dubbed the Slate, H-P's device will
.
Analysts are already starting to draw comparisons between the two devices, notably H-P's decision to support
Adobe's
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Flash technology on its tablet, something that the iPad lacks.
In news unrelated to products, H-P hit the headlines Thursday when the
Wall Street Journal
reported that the company is under investigation by authorities in Germany and Russia as part of a bribery inquiry.
"This is an investigation of alleged conduct that occurred almost seven years ago, largely by employees no longer with H-P," explained an H-P spokeswoman in an email to
TheStreet
. "We are cooperating fully with the German and Russian authorities and will continue to conduct our own internal investigation."
The company's stock dipped 37 cents, or 0.68%, to $54.15 on Thursday despite a modest rise in the broader tech market that saw the Nasdaq rise 0.2%.
-- Reported by James Rogers in New York
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