Back to top

Image: Bigstock

HP (HPQ) & Google Partner for Make-in-India Chromebooks

Read MoreHide Full Article

HP Inc. (HPQ - Free Report) and Alphabet’s (GOOGL - Free Report) Google have partnered to make Chromebook laptops in India. Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai revealed the collaboration in a tweet on the microblogging platform X, formerly known as Twitter, this Monday.

Sundar Pichai stated in the tweet that the local production would enhance the accessibility to affordable and secure computing devices for Indian students. The manufacturing of Chromebooks in India will be a win-win situation for both companies.

Under this partnership, HP will manufacture Chromebooks at its Flex facility in Chennai, where the company has been manufacturing a range of laptops and desktops since 2020, including HP EliteBooks, HP ProBooks, and HP G8 series notebooks. The partnership with Google for Chromebooks will further expand the product portfolio of the leading hardware IT company.

Meanwhile, the move will help Alphabet’s Google to better compete with Microsoft’s Windows operating system-based computers from Dell Technologies, Asustek Computer Inc and others.

HP Inc. Price and Consensus

HP Inc. Price and Consensus

HP Inc. price-consensus-chart | HP Inc. Quote

The partnership between the two companies will also help HP avoid any potential import restrictions from the Indian government, which was planning to impose import restrictions on laptops, tablets and servers from Nov 1, 2023 to boost Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ambitious “Make In India” plan. However, the government has postponed the import restriction plan for at least now.

Furthermore, enhancing the local manufacturing of laptops and desktops will also provide HP with the opportunity to take advantage of the Indian government’s production-linked incentive (PLI) scheme. Per the PLI scheme, IT hardware companies can avail of up to $2 billion or INR 17,000 crore incentives if they make India their production base.

Zacks Rank and Stocks to Consider

Currently, HP Inc. and Alphabet each carry a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). Shares of HPQ have declined 4.5% year to date (YTD), while GOOGL stock has rallied 52.1% in the same period.

Some better-ranked stocks from the broader technology sector are NVIDIA (NVDA - Free Report) and Paylocity Holding (PCTY - Free Report) , each sporting a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy). You can see the complete list of today's Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for NVIDIA's third-quarter fiscal 2024 earnings has been revised upward by 8 cents to $3.32 per share in the past 30 days. For fiscal 2024, earnings estimates have increased by 21 cents to $10.67 per share in the past 30 days.

NVIDIA’s earnings beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate thrice in the preceding four quarters while missing on one occasion, the average surprise being 9.8%. Shares of NVDA have surged 206.5% YTD.

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for Paylocity’s first-quarter fiscal 2024 earnings has remained unchanged at $1.07 per share in the past 60 days. For fiscal 2024, earnings estimates have moved 31 cents upward to $5.58 per share in the past 60 days.

Paylocity’s earnings beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate in the preceding four quarters, the average surprise being 39.7%. Shares of PCTY have declined 4.7% YTD.

Published in