Back to top

Image: Bigstock

HP (HPQ) Outpaces Stock Market Gains: What You Should Know

Read MoreHide Full Article

In the latest trading session, HP (HPQ - Free Report) closed at $21.15, marking a +1.54% move from the previous day. The stock's change was more than the S&P 500's daily gain of 0.81%. Meanwhile, the Dow experienced a rise of 0.73%, and the technology-dominated Nasdaq saw an increase of 1.03%.

Heading into today, shares of the personal computer and printer maker had gained 9.82% over the past month, lagging the Computer and Technology sector's gain of 17.98% and outpacing the S&P 500's gain of 9.47%.

The investment community will be paying close attention to the earnings performance of HP in its upcoming release. On that day, HP is projected to report earnings of $0.71 per share, which would represent no growth from the prior-year quarter. Simultaneously, our latest consensus estimate expects the revenue to be $14.05 billion, showing a 6.26% escalation compared to the year-ago quarter.

For the full year, the Zacks Consensus Estimates are projecting earnings of $2.84 per share and revenue of $56.83 billion, which would represent changes of -8.97% and +2.77%, respectively, from the prior year.

Investors should also take note of any recent adjustments to analyst estimates for HP. These recent revisions tend to reflect the evolving nature of short-term business trends. As a result, we can interpret positive estimate revisions as a good sign for the business outlook.

Our research demonstrates that these adjustments in estimates directly associate with imminent stock price performance. To exploit this, we've formed the Zacks Rank, a quantitative model that includes these estimate changes and presents a viable rating system.

The Zacks Rank system, which varies between #1 (Strong Buy) and #5 (Strong Sell), carries an impressive track record of exceeding expectations, confirmed by external audits, with stocks at #1 delivering an average annual return of +25% since 1988. The Zacks Consensus EPS estimate remained stagnant within the past month. HP presently features a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold).

In terms of valuation, HP is currently trading at a Forward P/E ratio of 7.34. This signifies a discount in comparison to the average Forward P/E of 14.84 for its industry.

One should further note that HPQ currently holds a PEG ratio of 5.78. The PEG ratio is similar to the widely-used P/E ratio, but this metric also takes the company's expected earnings growth rate into account. Computer - Micro Computers stocks are, on average, holding a PEG ratio of 1.86 based on yesterday's closing prices.

The Computer - Micro Computers industry is part of the Computer and Technology sector. This group has a Zacks Industry Rank of 38, putting it in the top 16% of all 250+ industries.

The Zacks Industry Rank gauges the strength of our individual industry groups by measuring the average Zacks Rank of the individual stocks within the groups. Our research shows that the top 50% rated industries outperform the bottom half by a factor of 2 to 1.

Don't forget to use Zacks.com to keep track of all these stock-moving metrics, and others, in the upcoming trading sessions.

Zacks' 7 Best Strong Buy Stocks (New Research Report)

Valued at $99, click below to receive our just-released report predicting the 7 stocks that will soar highest in the coming month.

Click Here, It's Really Free

Published in