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HP (HPQ) Dips More Than Broader Markets: What You Should Know

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In the latest trading session, HP (HPQ - Free Report) closed at $34.98, marking a -1.8% move from the previous day. This move lagged the S&P 500's daily loss of 1.22%. Meanwhile, the Dow lost 0.19%, and the Nasdaq, a tech-heavy index, lost 0.53%.

Heading into today, shares of the personal computer and printer maker had lost 6.51% over the past month, outpacing the Computer and Technology sector's loss of 11.78% and the S&P 500's loss of 6.58% in that time.

Wall Street will be looking for positivity from HP as it approaches its next earnings report date. In that report, analysts expect HP to post earnings of $1.03 per share. This would mark year-over-year growth of 11.96%. Our most recent consensus estimate is calling for quarterly revenue of $16.66 billion, up 6.45% from the year-ago period.

HPQ's full-year Zacks Consensus Estimates are calling for earnings of $4.16 per share and revenue of $66.03 billion. These results would represent year-over-year changes of +9.76% and +4.01%, respectively.

Investors should also note any recent changes to analyst estimates for HP. These revisions help to show the ever-changing nature of near-term business trends. As such, positive estimate revisions reflect analyst optimism about the company's business and profitability.

Research indicates that these estimate revisions are directly correlated with near-term share price momentum. We developed the Zacks Rank to capitalize on this phenomenon. Our system takes these estimate changes into account and delivers a clear, actionable rating model.

Ranging from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell), the Zacks Rank system has a proven, outside-audited track record of outperformance, with #1 stocks returning an average of +25% annually since 1988. The Zacks Consensus EPS estimate has moved 0.07% higher within the past month. HP currently has a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy).

Valuation is also important, so investors should note that HP has a Forward P/E ratio of 8.56 right now. For comparison, its industry has an average Forward P/E of 18.18, which means HP is trading at a discount to the group.

Meanwhile, HPQ's PEG ratio is currently 3.34. This popular metric is similar to the widely-known P/E ratio, with the difference being that the PEG ratio also takes into account the company's expected earnings growth rate. Computer - Mini computers stocks are, on average, holding a PEG ratio of 2.09 based on yesterday's closing prices.

The Computer - Mini computers industry is part of the Computer and Technology sector. This group has a Zacks Industry Rank of 56, putting it in the top 22% of all 250+ industries.

The Zacks Industry Rank includes is listed in order from best to worst in terms of the average Zacks Rank of the individual companies within each of these sectors. Our research shows that the top 50% rated industries outperform the bottom half by a factor of 2 to 1.

Make sure to utilize Zacks.com to follow all of these stock-moving metrics, and more, in the coming trading sessions.


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